Cyber Posture

CVE-2025-21379

High

Published: 11 February 2025

Published
11 February 2025
Modified
14 February 2025
KEV Added
Patch
CVSS Score 7.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0122 79.2th percentile
Risk Priority 15 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2025-21379 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 11 24H2. Its CVSS base score is 7.1 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked in the top 20.8% 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

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203). What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.
Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

prevent

Timely flaw remediation through patching directly eliminates the remote code execution vulnerability in the DHCP Client Service.

prevent

Memory protection mechanisms prevent successful exploitation of the use-after-free (CWE-416) flaw in the DHCP Client Service.

prevent

Boundary protection via network segmentation limits the adjacent network access (AV:A) required to deliver the malicious DHCP response.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
Why these techniques?

The CVE describes a remote code execution vulnerability in the DHCP Client Service (a client application), directly enabling Exploitation for Client Execution via crafted network responses.

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

NVD Description

DHCP Client Service Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2025-21379 is a Remote Code Execution vulnerability in the DHCP Client Service. Published on 2025-02-11T18:15:36.590, it carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.1 (AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) and is linked to CWE-416 as well as NVD-CWE-noinfo.

Exploitation requires an attacker with adjacent network access (AV:A) and involves high attack complexity (AC:H), no privileges (PR:N), and user interaction (UI:R). Successful attacks result in high impacts to confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H) with unchanged scope (S:U), enabling remote code execution on affected systems.

The Microsoft Security Response Center provides guidance on this vulnerability, including patch information, at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21379.

Details

CWE(s)

Affected Products

microsoft
windows 11 24h2
≤ 10.0.26100.3194 · ≤ 10.0.26100.3194
microsoft
windows server 2025
≤ 10.0.26100.3194

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-49724Same product: Microsoft Windows 11 24H2
CVE-2025-21315Same product: Microsoft Windows 11 24H2
CVE-2026-20859Same product: Microsoft Windows 11 24H2
CVE-2026-20870Same product: Microsoft Windows 11 24H2
CVE-2026-20854Same product: Microsoft Windows 11 24H2
CVE-2025-21372Same product: Microsoft Windows 11 24H2
CVE-2026-32157Same product: Microsoft Windows 11 24H2
CVE-2025-24081Same vendor: Microsoft
CVE-2026-25167Same product: Microsoft Windows 11 24H2
CVE-2026-20952Same vendor: Microsoft

References