CVE-2025-21230
Published: 14 January 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-21230 is a high-severity Improper Input Validation (CWE-20) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 10 1507. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application or System Exploitation (T1499.004); ranked in the top 19.7% 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 SC-5 (Denial-of-service Protection) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation).
Deeper analysis
Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ) contains a denial-of-service vulnerability tracked as CVE-2025-21230. The flaw is present in the MSMQ service component on supported Windows platforms and is characterized by improper input validation (CWE-20) combined with uncontrolled resource consumption (CWE-400). It received a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5, reflecting network attackability without authentication or user interaction and a high impact on availability.
An unauthenticated attacker can send specially crafted network messages to an exposed MSMQ endpoint, triggering excessive resource consumption that renders the service unavailable. Because the attack requires no privileges and can be launched remotely, any system with MSMQ listening on the network is potentially reachable by an external adversary seeking to disrupt message queuing operations.
The official Microsoft Security Response Center advisory at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21230 describes available patches and configuration guidance. Exploitation probability (EPSS) rose from a low baseline to a recorded peak of 0.0332, indicating increased interest in the issue after disclosure.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-2297
Vulnerability details
Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ) Denial of Service Vulnerability
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Remote unauthenticated DoS via input validation flaw in MSMQ service directly matches application/system exploitation for availability impact.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly remediates the specific improper input validation flaw in MSMQ by applying vendor-provided patches.
Provides denial-of-service protections such as rate limiting to block exploitation of uncontrolled resource consumption in MSMQ.
Enforces input validation to mitigate CWE-20 improper input validation that enables the MSMQ DoS vulnerability.