Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-59280

Auth Bypass in Microsoft Windows Server 2008 r2

Published
14 October 2025
Modified
20 October 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 3.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0043 35th percentile
Risk Priority 15 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-59280 is a low-severity Improper Authentication (CWE-287) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Server 2008. Its CVSS base score is 3.1 (Low).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Name Resolution Poisoning and SMB Relay (T1557.001); ranked at the 35th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to IA-9 (Service Identification and Authentication) and SC-23 (Session Authenticity) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Improper authentication in Windows SMB Client allows an unauthorized attacker to perform tampering over a network.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1557.001 Name Resolution Poisoning and SMB Relay Credential Access
By responding to LLMNR/NBT-NS/mDNS network traffic, adversaries may spoof an authoritative source for name resolution to force communication with an adversary controlled system.
Why these techniques?

Improper authentication (CWE-287) in SMB Client enables network tampering, directly facilitating SMB relay or name resolution poisoning attacks under Adversary-in-the-Middle.

Confidence: MEDIUM · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-54918Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2025-55234Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2025-53778Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2024-49039Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2025-21349Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2023-36004Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2026-24294Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1607
CVE-2026-26128Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1607
CVE-2023-36724Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507
CVE-2024-49076Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1809

Affected Assets

microsoft
windows 10 1507
≤ 10.0.10240.21161 · ≤ 10.0.10240.21161
microsoft
windows 10 1607
≤ 10.0.14393.8519 · ≤ 10.0.14393.8519
microsoft
windows 10 1809
≤ 10.0.17763.7919 · ≤ 10.0.17763.7919
microsoft
windows 10 21h2
≤ 10.0.19044.6456
microsoft
windows 10 22h2
≤ 10.0.19045.6456
microsoft
windows 11 22h2
≤ 10.0.22621.6060
microsoft
windows 11 23h2
≤ 10.0.22631.6060
microsoft
windows 11 24h2
≤ 10.0.26100.6899
microsoft
windows server 2008
all versions, r2
microsoft
windows server 2012
all versions, r2
+5 more product configuration(s) — see NVD for full list

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • IA-9 Service Identification and Authentication
  • SC-23 Session Authenticity
  • SC-8 Transmission Confidentiality and Integrity
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 8 hardening rules · 5 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V6.4.4
  • V6.5.4
  • V6.5.5
  • V6.5.7

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly requires identification and authentication of services (e.g., SMB servers) before communications are established, addressing the CWE-287 flaw in the SMB Client.

prevent

Ensures authenticity of sessions to protect against network tampering that results from the improper authentication vulnerability.

prevent

Provides transmission integrity controls that would block or detect tampering attempts exploiting the SMB Client authentication weakness.

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.AA-03 mostly match
prevents

PR.AA-03 directly enforces authentication mechanisms that eliminate most improper-authentication defects, yet CWE-287 spans additional vectors (missing checks, flawed protocols, session handling) that one control does not fully close.

PR.AA-04 mostly match
prevents

PR.AA-04 directly enables verification of identity assertions (mostly preventing CWE-287 in that scope) yet leaves many other authentication failure modes unaddressed (only partial prevention overall).

PR.AA-01 partial match
prevents

PR.AA-01 supplies and governs credentials/tokens that authentication relies on, removing some weak-credential cases, yet leaves verification logic, missing checks, and protocol flaws untouched.

PR.AA-02 partial match
prevents

PR.AA-02 ensures valid enrollment and unique credential binding, which reduces some improper-auth risks at issuance time but leaves runtime claim verification untouched, so each direction only partially addresses the other.

PR.PS-01 partial match
prevents

PR.PS-01 can enforce auth-related settings via hardened baselines and default reviews, blocking some config-based instances of CWE-287, yet leaves code-level auth flaws untouched so neither direction reaches mostly.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching/maintenance can remediate some known auth vulnerabilities after deployment (partial forward) but does not address the design or implementation of authentication logic itself (none reverse).

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.

prevents

Requiring authentication methods whose strength matches the sensitivity of the data and mandating multi-factor authentication directly blocks attempts to access resources without proving identity.

prevents

Verifying user identity before issuing replacement credentials and forcing changes after compromise reduces the likelihood that authentication bypass can be achieved through stolen or weak credentials.

prevents

Mandating segregated approval and oversight for non-human identities reduces the chance that weak or orphaned credentials can be exploited for unauthorized authentication.

mitigates

Requiring authentication mechanisms and technical parameters for secure connections ensures that network services verify user identity before granting access, preventing exploitation of missing or weak authentication.

prevents

Security requirements specified early and verified through testing drive the consistent implementation of authentication mechanisms, decreasing the likelihood that authentication steps are omitted or incorrectly applied.

prevents

Defining the required level of trust in entity identity and the authentication mechanisms to achieve it ensures that authentication is explicitly addressed rather than omitted.

References