CVE-2025-21172
Published: 14 January 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-21172 is a high-severity Heap-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-122) vulnerability in Microsoft Visual Studio 2022. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked in the top 30.4% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-16 (Memory Protection).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2025-21172 is a Remote Code Execution vulnerability affecting .NET and Visual Studio. Published on 2025-01-14, it is associated with CWE-122 (Heap-based Buffer Overflow), CWE-190 (Integer Overflow or Wraparound), and NVD-CWE-noinfo. The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating high severity due to its potential for significant impact.
An unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability over the network, though successful attacks require high complexity and user interaction, such as a victim opening a malicious file or interacting with crafted content. Exploitation enables remote code execution, granting high-impact access to confidentiality, integrity, and availability within the scope of the affected process.
Microsoft's Security Response Center update guide at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21172 provides details on patches and mitigation steps, with additional information available at https://www.herodevs.com/vulnerability-directory/cve-2025-21172.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-0074
Vulnerability details
.NET and Visual Studio Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
RCE via heap/integer overflow triggered by opening malicious file or crafted content directly enables client-side exploitation (T1203) and user execution of malicious files (T1204.002).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly requires timely patching and remediation of the heap-based buffer overflow and integer overflow flaws in .NET and Visual Studio to prevent RCE exploitation.
Implements memory protections like ASLR, DEP, and stack canaries that directly mitigate exploitation of heap-based buffer overflows even if unpatched.
Enforces input validation to prevent integer overflows and buffer overflows when processing crafted files or content that trigger the vulnerability.