Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-21290

HighDDoS

Published: 14 January 2025

Published
14 January 2025
Modified
24 January 2025
KEV Added
Patch
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0133 80.3th percentile
Risk Priority 16 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2025-21290 is a high-severity Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400) 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 SC-6 (Resource Availability).

Deeper analysis

Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ) contains a denial of service vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-21290. The issue is rated 7.5 under CVSS 3.1 with an attack vector of network, no authentication or user interaction required, and a high impact solely on availability; it is associated with CWE-400 for improper resource allocation.

A remote unauthenticated attacker can send crafted network traffic to trigger the flaw and disrupt MSMQ service availability, with no privileges or user interaction needed to achieve the effect.

The EPSS probability has shown a material rise from a low starting point to a recorded peak of 0.0332, with the current value at 0.0133, indicating increased exploitation interest after public disclosure. Details on patches and mitigation steps are provided in the Microsoft Security Response Center advisory.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ) Denial of Service Vulnerability

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation Impact
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities that can cause an application or system to crash and deny availability to users.
Why these techniques?

The vulnerability is a remote unauthenticated DoS in MSMQ via uncontrolled resource consumption (CWE-400), directly enabling Endpoint Denial of Service through application/system exploitation.

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v18.1

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-21389Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2025-21300Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2025-21270Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2025-21289Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2025-21251Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2025-21351Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1607
CVE-2025-21230Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2025-21207Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1809
CVE-2025-21330Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1809
CVE-2025-21285Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507

Affected Assets

microsoft
windows 10 1507
≤ 10.0.10240.20890 · ≤ 10.0.10240.20890
microsoft
windows 10 1607
≤ 10.0.14393.7699 · ≤ 10.0.14393.7699
microsoft
windows 10 1809
≤ 10.0.17763.6775 · ≤ 10.0.17763.6775
microsoft
windows 10 21h2
≤ 10.0.19044.5371
microsoft
windows 10 22h2
≤ 10.0.19045.5371
microsoft
windows 11 22h2
≤ 10.0.22621.4751
microsoft
windows 11 23h2
≤ 10.0.22631.4751
microsoft
windows 11 24h2
≤ 10.0.26100.2894
microsoft
windows server 2008
all versions, r2
microsoft
windows server 2012
all versions, r2
+5 more product configuration(s) — see NVD for full list

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Flaw remediation directly addresses the vulnerability by applying the Microsoft patch for CVE-2025-21290 in MSMQ, eliminating the uncontrolled resource consumption issue.

prevent

Denial-of-service protection implements mechanisms like rate limiting and traffic shaping to prevent unauthenticated remote attackers from exhausting MSMQ resources.

prevent

Resource availability allocates and monitors dedicated resources for MSMQ to detect and mitigate uncontrolled consumption leading to denial of service.

References