CVE-2025-21298
Published: 14 January 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-21298 is a critical-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 10 1507. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 1.2% 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-16 (Memory Protection) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI
SI-2 mandates timely identification, reporting, and correction of system flaws, directly preventing exploitation of the Use After Free vulnerability in Windows OLE via vendor patches.
SI-16 implements memory protections like ASLR and DEP that directly mitigate use-after-free exploits such as CVE-2025-21298 by randomizing memory layouts and preventing code execution in data areas.
SC-7 monitors and controls communications at system boundaries to block unauthorized remote network access to the vulnerable Windows OLE component.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
The CVE is a remote code execution vulnerability in a Windows component allowing unauthenticated network exploitation with no user interaction, directly mapping to T1190 for exploiting public-facing applications to gain initial access. Post-exploitation, the arbitrary code execution capability facilitates T1059.001 for running commands via PowerShell or similar interpreters.
NVD Description
Windows OLE Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2025-21298 is a remote code execution vulnerability in the Windows Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) component. Published on January 14, 2025, it carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8, indicating critical severity with high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The flaw is associated with CWE-416 (Use After Free), though additional CWE details are unavailable from NVD.
The vulnerability enables remote attackers to execute arbitrary code over a network without requiring user privileges or interaction. Exploitation is low complexity (AC:L) and accessible from the network (AV:N) with no privileges needed (PR:N) and unchanged scope (S:U), allowing unauthenticated remote exploitation that compromises the targeted system fully.
Microsoft's Security Response Center (MSRC) provides guidance on this vulnerability at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21298, including details on affected versions and recommended patches for mitigation.
Details
- CWE(s)