Cyber Posture

CVE-2025-55227

HighRCE

Published: 09 September 2025

Published
09 September 2025
Modified
12 September 2025
KEV Added
Patch
CVSS Score 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0013 31.2th percentile
Risk Priority 18 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2025-55227 is a high-severity Command Injection (CWE-77) vulnerability in Microsoft Sql Server 2016. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 31.2th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068) and 1 other technique. What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.
Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

prevent

Directly requires input validation to neutralize special elements and prevent command injection exploits in SQL Server.

prevent

Mandates identification, reporting, and correction of flaws like this command injection vulnerability through timely patching as per Microsoft's guidance.

prevent

Enforces least privilege to limit the impact of privilege escalation even if command injection succeeds from low-privilege accounts.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

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.
Why these techniques?

Command injection (CWE-77) in SQL Server directly enables remote exploitation for privilege escalation (T1068) and exploitation of a network-accessible application (T1190).

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

NVD Description

Improper neutralization of special elements used in a command ('command injection') in SQL Server allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges over a network.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2025-55227 is an improper neutralization of special elements used in a command, resulting in command injection (CWE-77), affecting SQL Server. Published on 2025-09-09T17:16:05.900, the vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

An authorized attacker with low privileges (PR:L) can exploit this vulnerability over the network (AV:N) with low complexity (AC:L) and no user interaction (UI:N). Successful exploitation enables privilege escalation, granting high impacts on confidentiality (C:H), integrity (I:H), and availability (A:H) without changing scope (S:U).

Microsoft's update guide at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2025-55227 provides details on mitigation and patches for this vulnerability.

Details

CWE(s)

Affected Products

microsoft
sql server 2016
13.0.6300.2 — 13.0.6470.1 · 13.0.7000.253 — 13.0.7065.1
microsoft
sql server 2017
14.0.1000.169 — 14.0.2085.1 · 14.0.3006.16 — 14.0.3505.1
microsoft
sql server 2019
15.0.2000.5 — 15.0.2145.1 · 15.0.4003.23 — 15.0.4445.1
microsoft
sql server 2022
16.0.1000.6 — 16.0.1150.1 · 16.0.4003.1 — 16.0.4212.1

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-49758Same product: Microsoft Sql Server 2016
CVE-2025-59499Same product: Microsoft Sql Server 2016
CVE-2025-24999Same product: Microsoft Sql Server 2016
CVE-2025-49759Same product: Microsoft Sql Server 2016
CVE-2025-53727Same product: Microsoft Sql Server 2016
CVE-2026-33120Same product: Microsoft Sql Server 2016
CVE-2026-26116Same product: Microsoft Sql Server 2016
CVE-2026-26115Same product: Microsoft Sql Server 2016
CVE-2026-21262Same product: Microsoft Sql Server 2016
CVE-2025-49717Same product: Microsoft Sql Server 2019

References