Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-27741

Memory Safety in Microsoft Windows Server 2008 r2

Published
08 April 2025
Modified
10 July 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0077 53th percentile
Risk Priority 60 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2025-27741 is a high-severity Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Server 2008. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 47% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2025-27741 is an out-of-bounds read vulnerability, tracked under CWE-125, that affects the NTFS component of Windows. The flaw carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 7.8 and permits an attacker to read memory beyond intended bounds, which can be leveraged to corrupt or disclose sensitive kernel data structures.

An unauthorized local attacker can trigger the issue by supplying a malicious file or disk image that a user opens or mounts, satisfying the UI:R requirement in the CVSS vector. Successful exploitation grants the attacker local elevation of privileges with high impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability, all without needing prior credentials on the target system.

Microsoft has published an advisory for CVE-2025-27741 at the referenced MSRC URL that addresses remediation steps. The associated EPSS score remains low and unchanged at 0.0162, indicating no material increase in observed exploitation interest since disclosure.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Out-of-bounds read in Windows NTFS allows an unauthorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-27733Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2025-32707Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2025-27483Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2023-35318Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2023-35299Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2023-32045Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2023-32011Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2023-35319Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2023-32034Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2023-35314Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507

Affected Assets

microsoft
windows 10 1507
≤ 10.0.10240.20978 · ≤ 10.0.10240.20978
microsoft
windows 10 1607
≤ 10.0.14393.7969 · ≤ 10.0.14393.7969
microsoft
windows 10 1809
≤ 10.0.17763.7136 · ≤ 10.0.17763.7136
microsoft
windows server 2008
all versions, r2
microsoft
windows server 2012
all versions, r2
microsoft
windows server 2016
≤ 10.0.14393.7969
microsoft
windows server 2019
≤ 10.0.17763.7136

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation directly finds out-of-bounds read flaws through static analysis, fuzzing, and dynamic bounds checks.

Secure engineering principles require bounds checking and memory-safe constructs that stop out-of-bounds reads from being introduced.

Process isolation confines the effects of an out-of-bounds read to the compromised process.

Input validation rejects malformed indices or lengths that would otherwise cause reads outside buffer bounds.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure-development practices such as bounds checking and memory-safe languages directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover instances of out-of-bounds reads after code is deployed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching replaces vulnerable code containing out-of-bounds read flaws.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing in development and acceptance includes fuzzing and static analysis that detect out-of-bounds read defects before release.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
finds

Logging can record evidence of an out-of-bounds read but does not prevent the weakness itself.

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates input validation and bounds checking that directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.

prevents

Application security requirements include explicit bounds and memory-safety specifications that mitigate buffer over-reads.

prevents

Secure system architecture and engineering principles require memory-safe design patterns and runtime protections against out-of-bounds access.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe pointer arithmetic and mandate bounds-checked reads, eliminating CWE-125.

References