CVE-2025-21405
Published: 14 January 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-21405 is a high-severity Improper Access Control (CWE-284) vulnerability in Microsoft Visual Studio 2022. Its CVSS base score is 7.3 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 37.9% 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 AC-6 (Least Privilege) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI
Directly remediates the Visual Studio elevation of privilege vulnerability by requiring timely application of vendor-provided patches.
Enforces least privilege to minimize the privileges available for escalation by local low-privileged attackers exploiting this vulnerability.
Mandates enforcement of approved access authorizations to counter the improper access control flaw enabling privilege escalation.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
The CVE describes a local elevation of privilege vulnerability due to improper access control, directly enabling T1068: Exploitation for Privilege Escalation to achieve full system compromise from a low-privileged account.
NVD Description
Visual Studio Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2025-21405 is an Elevation of Privilege vulnerability affecting Visual Studio. It stems from improper access control (CWE-284) and allows attackers to gain elevated privileges on affected systems. The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.3 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating high potential impact if exploited.
A local attacker with low privileges (PR:L) can exploit this vulnerability with low complexity (AC:L), provided they induce user interaction (UI:R), such as clicking a malicious link or file. Successful exploitation enables high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts (C:I:A:H), typically resulting in full system compromise through privilege escalation from a standard user account.
Microsoft's Security Response Center (MSRC) provides guidance on this vulnerability at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21405, which details available patches and mitigation steps for Visual Studio users. Security practitioners should prioritize applying these updates to prevent exploitation.
Details
- CWE(s)