Threat mitigation

Security Advisory

Microsoft Updates Patch Tuesday for Feb 2025; Address 67 Vulnerabilities, Includes 2 Exploited Zero-Days 

Summary

Microsoft’s February 2025 Patch Tuesday addresses multiple security vulnerabilities, including four zero-days, with two actively exploited in the wild. This update covers a total of 67 security flaws, with three classified as critical Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerabilities.  

Microsoft  issued a revision for an older zero-day that threatens the latest Windows desktop and server versions.

OEM Microsoft 
Severity Critical 
Date of Announcement 2025-01-14 
No. of Vulnerabilities Patched 67 
Actively Exploited Yes 
Exploited in Wild Yes 
Advisory Version 1.0 

Overview 

The affected products include Windows, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Surface, and various network services. Organizations are strongly advised to apply these patches immediately to mitigate security risks and potential cyberattacks. 

  • 63 Microsoft CVEs addressed 
  • 4 non-Microsoft CVEs included 

The highlighted vulnerabilities include 4 zero-day flaws, 2 of which are currently being actively exploited. 

Vulnerability Name CVE ID Product Affected Severity CVSS Score 
Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability CVE-2025-21418 Windows High 7.8 
Windows Storage Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability  CVE-2025-21391 Windows High 7.1 
Microsoft Surface Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability CVE-2025-21194 Windows High  7.1 
NTLM Hash Disclosure Spoofing Vulnerability CVE-2025-21377 Windows Medium  6.5 

Technical Summary 

CVE ID System Affected Vulnerability Details Impact 
  CVE-2025-21418  Windows server and Windows 10 & 11  Windows ancillary function driver for winsock elevation of privilege vulnerability enables attackers to escalate privileges to SYSTEM level. Specific exploitation details are not disclosed.    Unauthorized access with SYSTEM privileges.  
  CVE-2025-21391  Windows server and Windows 10 & 11 Windows storage elevation of privilege vulnerability allows attackers to delete targeted files on a system, potentially leading to service unavailability. Does not expose confidential data.    Deletion of critical data, leading to service disruption. 
  CVE-2025-21194    Microsoft Surface    Microsoft surface security feature bypass vulnerability allows attackers to bypass UEFI protections, compromising the secure kernel. Likely related to “PixieFail” vulnerabilities affecting the IPv6 network stack in Tianocore’s EDK II firmware.    Bypass of security features, potentially compromising system integrity. 
 CVE-2025-21377  Windows server and Windows 10 & 11 NTLM hash disclosure spoofing vulnerability exposes NTLM hashes when a user interacts with a malicious file. Simply selecting or right-clicking a file could trigger a remote connection, allowing an attacker to capture NTLM hashes for cracking or pass-the-hash attacks.   Potential for attackers to authenticate as the user, leading to unauthorized access. 

Source:  Microsoft       

In addition to the actively exploited vulnerabilities, several other critical flaws were also addressed: 

  • CVE-2025-21376: A Windows Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) RCE vulnerability that could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code remotely. 
  • CVE-2025-21379: A DHCP Client Service RCE vulnerability that may enable remote attackers to execute code with elevated privileges. 
  • CVE-2025-21381: An RCE vulnerability in Microsoft Excel that could be triggered through malicious spreadsheet files. 

Remediation: 

  • Apply Updates: Immediately install the February 2025 Patch Tuesday updates to address these vulnerabilities. 

Conclusion: 

The February 2025 Patch Tuesday release addresses critical security vulnerabilities, including actively exploited zero-days. Timely application of these updates is essential to protect systems from potential threats. Organizations should review the affected products and implement the necessary patches and mitigations to maintain security integrity. 

The attack vector is local, meaning the attacker needs local access — physically or remotely, using SSH method without user interaction and if successful in exploiting, can give the attacker system privileges.

References: 

Security Advisory

Apple’s USB Restricted Mode Exploited in Targeted Attacks 

OEM Apple 
Severity High 
CVSS Not Assigned 
CVEs CVE-2025-24200   
Exploited in Wild No 
Patch/Remediation Available Yes 
Advisory Version 1.0 

Overview 

Apple has issued emergency security patches to mitigate a zero-day vulnerability, CVE-2025-24200, which has been actively exploited in sophisticated attacks targeting specific individuals. The flaw allows attackers to bypass USB Restricted Mode on a locked device, potentially exposing sensitive data. Initially identified by The Citizen Lab, this vulnerability is believed to have been leveraged in real-world scenarios against high-profile targets. Apple has responded by enhancing state management in iOS 18.3.1 and iPadOS 18.3.1 to prevent exploitation. 

Vulnerability Name CVE ID Product Affected Severity 
 USB Restricted Mode Bypass Vulnerability  CVE-2025-24200  Apple  High 

Technical Summary 

The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-24200, affects USB Restricted Mode, a security feature introduced in 2018 to prevent data transfer over USB when a device remains locked for seven days. A flaw in the Accessibility framework allows an attacker with physical access to disable USB Restricted Mode, bypassing this protection and potentially accessing sensitive data. 

Apple has mentioned “This issue has been exploited in extremely sophisticated attacks against specific individuals.” The vulnerability was discovered by Bill Marczak, a senior researcher at The Citizen Lab. 

CVE ID System Affected Vulnerability Details Impact 
CVE-2025-24200 iPhone XS and later iPad Pro (13-inch) iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later) iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation and later) iPad Air (3rd generation and later) iPad (7th generation and later) iPad mini (5th generation and later) A flaw in the Accessibility framework allows a physical attacker to disable USB Restricted Mode, bypassing protections designed to prevent unauthorized data transfer.   Unauthorized access to sensitive data 

Remediation: 

  1. Users are strongly advised to update their devices to the latest versions: 
  • iOS: Update to version 18.3.1 
  • iPadOS: Update to version 18.3.1 
  1. To update your device, go to Settings > General > Software Update, and follow the on-screen instructions. 

Conclusion 

The CVE-2025-24200 vulnerability poses a serious risk to device security, particularly for individuals targeted in sophisticated cyberattacks. While the exploitation has been limited to specific individuals, all users of affected devices should install the latest updates immediately to mitigate potential risks. Apple remains committed to user security by addressing vulnerabilities promptly and ensuring continuous protection against emerging threats. 

References: 

Security Advisory

Zero-Day Vulnerability in Microsoft Sysinternals Tools  

Summary 

A critical 0-Day vulnerability has been identified in nearly all Microsoft Sysinternals tools, allowing attackers to exploit DLL injection techniques to execute arbitrary code. This presents a significant risk to IT administrators and developers who rely on these utilities for system analysis and troubleshooting.

OEM Microsoft 
Severity High 
Date of Announcement 2025-02-05 
CVEs Not Yet Assigned 
Exploited in Wild No 
Patch/Remediation Available No 
Advisory Version 1.0 
Vulnerability Name Zero-Day  

Overview 

Despite being reported to Microsoft over 90 days ago, the vulnerability remains unpatched, as Microsoft considers it a “defense-in-depth” issue rather than a critical security flaw. 

Vulnerability Name CVE ID Product Affected Severity Impact 
            zero-day  Not Yet Assigned Microsoft Sysinternals Tools (Process Explorer, Autoruns, Bginfo, and potentially others)          High Arbitrary Code Execution, Privilege Escalation, Malware Deployment 

Technical Summary 

The vulnerability is caused by improper handling of DLL loading paths in affected Sysinternals utilities. When these tools search for required DLLs, they follow a specific search order, which may include untrusted locations such as network shares or user-writable directories. 

The issue arises from how Sysinternals tools prioritize DLL search paths, favoring untrusted directories such as: 

  • The Current Working Directory (CWD) 
  • Network locations (e.g., shared drives) 
  • User-writable paths over secure system directories 

This flaw allows attackers to place a malicious DLL in the same directory as a Sysinternals executable, tricking the application into loading the rogue DLL instead of the legitimate system DLL. 

Exploit Workflow 

  1. Attacker crafts a malicious DLL (e.g., cryptbase.dll or TextShaping.dll) containing a payload such as a reverse shell, ransomware, or trojan. 
  1. The DLL is placed in the same directory as a vulnerable Sysinternals tool. 
  1. The user unknowingly executes the tool (e.g., Bginfo.exe or procexp.exe) from that directory. 
  1. The malicious DLL is loaded instead of the legitimate system DLL. 
  1. Attackers gains code execution with the privileges of the running process (potentially SYSTEM privileges if run with admin rights). 

Recommendations 

  1. Avoid Running Sysinternals Tools from Network Locations 
  • Always copy tools to a local trusted directory before execution. 
  • Disable execution of .exe files from network drives if feasible. 
  1. Restrict DLL Search Paths 
  • Use SafeDLLSearchMode to prioritize secure directories. 
  • Implement DLL redirection to force tools to load DLLs from trusted paths. 
  1. Implement Application Control Policies 
  • Use AppLocker or Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) to block unauthorized DLLs from loading. 
  • Restrict execution of Sysinternals tools to trusted admin-only directories. 
  1. Verify DLL Integrity Before Execution 
  • Use SigCheck (Sysinternals) to ensure all loaded DLLs are digitally signed. 
  • Block execution of unsigned or suspicious DLLs in sensitive directories. 
  1. Monitor for Suspicious DLL Loading Behavior 
  • Enable Sysmon logging to detect anomalous DLL loads (Event ID 7). 
  • Monitor for executions of Sysinternals tools from network shares (Event ID 4688). 

Conclusion 

Despite being responsibly disclosed to Microsoft in October 2024, the vulnerability in Sysinternals tools remains unpatched as of February 2025. Microsoft classifies it as a “defense-in-depth” issue, dismissing it as non-critical, while security researchers highlight its severe impact on enterprises, especially those running tools from network shares. This leaves users reliant on manual mitigations to avoid exploitation.

The Sysinternals tools, developed by Microsoft, are a widely-utilized suite of utilities designed to provide in-depth insights into the processes, services, and configurations of Windows systems. 

References: 

Security Advisory

Microsoft December 2024 Patch Tuesday: Critical Fixes for Zero-Day and Remote Code Execution

Summary

OEM

Microsoft

Severity

High

Date of Announcement

2024-12-12

NO. of Vulnerabilities Patched

71

Actively Exploited

01

Exploited in Wild

Yes

Advisory Version

1.0

Overview

Microsoft released updates addressing 71 vulnerabilities across its product suite, including 1 actively exploited zero-day vulnerability. Critical patches include fixes for remote code execution (RCE) flaws in Windows TCP/IP and Windows Common Log File System (CLFS). Immediate attention is required for systems running Windows Server, Microsoft Exchange, and other affected components. The patch targets a range of critical issues across Microsoft products, categorized as follows:

  • 30 Remote Code Execution (RCE) Vulnerabilities
  • 27 Elevation of Privilege (EoP) Vulnerabilities
  • 7 Information Disclosure Vulnerabilities
  • 4 Denial of Service (DoS) Vulnerabilities
  • 1Defense-in-depth improvement
  • 1 Spoofing Vulnerabilities

The highlighted vulnerabilities include one zero-day flaw and critical RCE vulnerabilities, one of which is currently being actively exploited.

Vulnerability Name

CVE ID

Product Affected

Impact

CVSS Score

Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution in Windows LDAP

CVE-2024-49112 

Windows

Critical

9.8

Remote Code Execution in Windows Hyper-V

CVE-2024-49117

Windows

High

8.8

Remote Code Execution via Use-After-Free in Remote Desktop Services

CVE-2024-49132

Windows

High

8.1

Windows Common Log File System Driver Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

CVE-2024-49138

Windows

High

7.8

Technical Summary

CVE ID

System Affected

Vulnerability Details

Impact

CVE-2024-49112 

Microsoft Windows Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)

This vulnerability allows attackers to execute arbitrary code at the LDAP service level by sending specially crafted LDAP calls to a Windows Domain Controller. While Microsoft recommends disconnecting Domain Controllers from the Internet as a mitigation, applying the patch is the best course of action.

Remote Code Execution

CVE-2024-49117

Microsoft Windows Hyper-V

This vulnerability can be exploited by an authenticated attacker to execute code on the host operating system from a guest virtual machine. Cross-VM attacks are also possible. Although the attacker must have basic authentication, the vulnerability poses significant risks to virtualized environments.

Remote Code Execution

CVE-2024-49132

Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop Services

An attacker can exploit a use-after-free memory condition in Remote Desktop Gateway, allowing RCE. Exploitation requires precise timing, which makes this an advanced attack. Successful exploitation grants attackers control over the affected system.

Allows an attacker to execute remote code on systems using Remote Desktop Gateway

CVE-2024-49138

Windows Common Log File System Driver

This critical security flaw affects the Windows Common Log File System Driver and is classified as an Elevation of Privilege vulnerability.

It allows attackers to gain SYSTEM privileges on Windows devices, potentially giving them full control over the affected system.

Additional Critical Patches Address High-Severity Vulnerabilities

  • These are the eight other critical vulnerabilities that are rated 8.1 on the CVSS scale in Remote Desktop Services (CVE-2024-49116, CVE-2024-49108, CVE-2024-49106, CVE-2024-49115, CVE-2024-49128, CVE-2024-49123, CVE-2024-49120, CVE-2024-49119).
  • Windows Mobile Broadband Driver Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability (CVE-2024-49077).
  • Windows Mobile Broadband Driver Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability (CVE-2024-49132).

Remediation

  • Ensure all December 2024 Patch Tuesday updates are applied promptly.
  • Implement a routine patch management process to regularly check for and apply the latest Microsoft security updates and patches for all affected products.
  • Create and test an incident response plan with defined communication channels and responsibilities to ensure readiness for any security breaches.

References

https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/releaseNote/2024-Dec

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