Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-21293

High

Published: 14 January 2025

Published
14 January 2025
Modified
24 January 2025
KEV Added
Patch
CVSS Score v3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.7606 98.9th percentile
Risk Priority 63 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2025-21293 is a high-severity Improper Access Control (CWE-284) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 10 1507. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 1.1% 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-2 (Flaw Remediation) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement).

Deeper analysis

CVE-2025-21293 is an elevation of privilege vulnerability in Active Directory Domain Services. It is rated 8.8 under CVSS 3.1 with an attack vector of network, low complexity, low privileges required, and no user interaction, allowing high impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

An authenticated attacker with low-level domain access can exploit the flaw to escalate privileges and achieve full control over the directory services environment. The weakness is tracked under CWE-284.

The Microsoft Security Response Center advisory at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21293 supplies patch information and mitigation guidance for affected deployments.

The EPSS score currently stands at 0.7606 after reaching a peak of 0.7913.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

Active Directory Domain Services Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
Why these techniques?

The CVE describes an elevation of privilege vulnerability in Active Directory Domain Services due to improper access control, directly enabling a low-privileged authenticated network user to exploit the flaw for privilege escalation with high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

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

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-21359Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2025-59230Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2026-21238Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1607
CVE-2026-33834Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1607
CVE-2026-25176Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1607
CVE-2026-27914Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1607
CVE-2026-20843Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1607
CVE-2026-20929Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1607
CVE-2026-24290Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1809
CVE-2025-49687Same 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 2012
all versions, r2
microsoft
windows server 2016
≤ 10.0.14393.7699
+4 more product configuration(s) — see NVD for full list

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Timely remediation of the Active Directory Domain Services flaw via Microsoft patches directly prevents low-privileged users from exploiting CVE-2025-21293 for privilege escalation.

prevent

Enforcing least privilege limits the scope and impact of privilege elevation by authenticated low-privileged users targeting this vulnerability.

prevent

Access enforcement strengthens improper access control mechanisms in AD DS, mitigating the CWE-284 weakness exploited in this elevation of privilege vulnerability.

References