CVE-2025-21204

Windows Process Activation Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Improper link resolution before file access ('link following') in Windows Update Stack allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

Affected

Microsoft · Windows 10 Version 1507 · Windows 10 Version 1607 · Windows 10 Version 1809 · Windows 10 Version 21H2 · Windows 10 Version 22H2 · Windows 11 version 22H2

CVSS v3.1 MICROSOFT

7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS

7.00% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, 94th percentile

Published

2025-04-08

Updated

2026-08-10

Proof-of-concept exploits (2)

• HexCore8/exploits3★ · 2026-05-25
• hackerhouse-opensource/exploits470★ · 2026-02-22

Security advisories

• https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21204
• https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2025-21204-privilege-elevation-vulnerability-i…

References

• CVE Record
• NVD entry

Related

• CVE-2018-10933
• CVE-2021-34527