Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2025-33053 is a high-severity External Control of File Name or Path (CWE-73) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 10 21H2. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data from Local System (T1005); ranked in the top 0.3% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement) — 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-2025-33053 is an external control of file name or path vulnerability in Internet Shortcut Files that enables remote code execution over a network. The flaw, tracked under CWE-73, carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 8.8 and affects Windows handling of .url shortcut files, particularly through WebDAV interactions.
An unauthenticated attacker can exploit the issue by supplying a malicious Internet Shortcut File that the victim opens, triggering code execution on the target system. The attack requires user interaction but needs no privileges and results in full compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Microsoft has published remediation guidance in its security update guide, while multiple security vendors have released detailed analyses of the flaw and associated attack chains. The vulnerability was exploited in the wild as a zero-day by the Stealth Falcon APT group against a Turkish defense organization to deliver malware, and the EPSS score remains elevated near its recorded peak of 0.5487.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-17721
Vulnerability Data
External control of file name or path in Internet Shortcut Files allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code over a network.
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 10 June 2025
Related Threats
Threat-Actor AttributionAI
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V5.3.2
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Input validation directly rejects or sanitizes untrusted path strings before they reach filesystem operations.
Enforces authorization checks on the actual resource accessed, blocking unauthorized files even when a malicious path is supplied.
Least-privilege limits the set of files or directories any subject can affect, shrinking the blast radius of a path-control flaw.
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.
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.
Security testing can detect path-traversal issues but does not itself implement preventive controls.
Secure development lifecycle mandates input validation and path-handling controls that directly prevent external file/path manipulation.
Application security requirements explicitly call for controls against untrusted input influencing file operations.
Secure architecture principles discourage unsafe path construction but do not prescribe concrete file-name controls.
Secure coding standards require canonicalization, allow-listing, and bounds checks on file paths, directly eliminating CWE-73.
Information access restriction limits which files can be reached, indirectly reducing impact of path manipulation.