CVE-2025-21285
Published: 14 January 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-21285 is a high-severity NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476) 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 2.5% 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-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI
Timely flaw remediation through applying Microsoft patches directly eliminates the MSMQ null pointer dereference vulnerability preventing DoS exploitation.
Denial-of-service protection mechanisms like rate limiting and resource throttling directly mitigate remote unauthenticated attacks triggering the MSMQ crash.
Least functionality by disabling or restricting MSMQ when not essential reduces the attack surface for this network-exposed service.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Remote unauthenticated NULL pointer dereference in MSMQ directly enables Endpoint DoS via application exploitation (T1499.004).
NVD Description
Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ) Denial of Service Vulnerability
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2025-21285 is a Denial of Service vulnerability in Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ). Published on 2025-01-14, it carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H) and is associated with CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference) and NVD-CWE-noinfo.
The vulnerability can be exploited by an unauthenticated attacker over the network, requiring low attack complexity and no user interaction. Exploitation leads to a high impact on availability, enabling a denial of service condition without affecting confidentiality or integrity.
Mitigation guidance is available in the Microsoft Security Response Center advisory at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21285.
Details
- CWE(s)