CVE-2025-62215
Microsoft Windows Race Condition Vulnerability
Description
CVE-2025-62215 is a high-severity local privilege escalation vulnerability in the Windows Kernel, rated at CVSS v3.1 score of 7.0. The flaw involves a race condition (CWE-362) and double free (CWE-415) that allows an authenticated local attacker with low privileges to escalate to SYSTEM-level access. This vulnerability has been added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog with a remediation deadline of December 3, 2025. While the EPSS score of 0.00518 (66.3rd percentile) indicates moderate exploitation probability, the KEV listing confirms active exploitation in the wild.
KEV Information
CVSS Score
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HOpen in CalculatorCWEs
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Version |
|---|---|---|
| microsoft | windows 10 1809 | < 10.0.17763.8027 |
| microsoft | windows 10 21h2 | < 10.0.19044.6575 |
| microsoft | windows 10 22h2 | < 10.0.19045.6575 |
| microsoft | windows 11 23h2 | < 10.0.22631.6199 |
| microsoft | windows 11 24h2 | < 10.0.26100.7092 |
| microsoft | windows 11 25h2 | < 10.0.26200.7092 |
| microsoft | windows server 2019 | < 10.0.17763.8027 |
| microsoft | windows server 2022 | < 10.0.20348.4346 |
| microsoft | windows server 2022 23h2 | < 10.0.25398.1965 |
| microsoft | windows server 2025 | < 10.0.26100.7092 |
References
- https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2025-62215(Vendor Advisory)
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-62215(US Government Resource)
Weakness Type
CWE-362: Race Condition
CWE-362 occurs when a program's behavior depends on the sequence or timing of uncontrollable events, particularly when multiple threads or processes access shared resources without proper synchronization. In CVE-2025-62215, the Windows Kernel fails to properly synchronize concurrent access to a shared resource, creating a timing window that an attacker can exploit to corrupt memory and gain elevated privileges.
CWE-415: Double Free
CWE-415 describes a condition where a program attempts to free the same memory location twice, leading to memory corruption. This can result in arbitrary code execution or privilege escalation when the freed memory is reallocated and an attacker controls its contents. In this vulnerability, the race condition in the Windows Kernel can trigger a double free scenario that corrupts kernel memory structures.
Impact Analysis
The business impact of CVE-2025-62215 centers on complete system compromise through privilege escalation. Confidentiality, integrity, and availability are all rated as high impact. An attacker who successfully exploits the race condition can escalate from a standard user account to SYSTEM-level privileges, gaining unrestricted access to all data on the affected Windows system, the ability to install persistent backdoors, modify security configurations, and potentially pivot to other systems on the network.
The practical exploitation context requires consideration of several factors. The Attack Complexity (High) rating means the race condition is not trivially reliable — an attacker needs to win a timing race, which may require multiple attempts. However, race conditions in kernel code can often be made more reliable with careful memory layout manipulation. The local access requirement limits the initial attack surface, meaning an attacker must already have some level of access to the target system, whether through compromised credentials, phishing, or another vulnerability. Despite the moderate EPSS score of 0.00518, CISA's KEV listing confirms that threat actors have successfully weaponized this vulnerability. The ransomware association is currently unknown, but kernel privilege escalation vulnerabilities are commonly used in ransomware kill chains to disable security tools before encryption. The wide range of affected Windows versions — from Windows 10 1809 through Windows Server 2022 — means this vulnerability affects a substantial portion of enterprise Windows deployments.
Exploit Maturity
CVE-2025-62215 is confirmed as actively exploited in the wild based on its inclusion in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. CISA KEV status: Federal agencies are required to remediate by December 3, 2025. EPSS context: The EPSS score of 0.00518 (66.3rd percentile) suggests moderate but measurable exploitation activity; the relatively lower EPSS compared to the KEV listing may indicate targeted rather than widespread exploitation.
No publicly available proof-of-concept exploit has been identified in the reference materials. Microsoft's security update guide at MSRC provides the official advisory. The race condition nature of the vulnerability typically makes exploitation less reliable than simpler vulnerability classes, which may explain why exploitation appears targeted rather than opportunistic. Ransomware association: Currently listed as unknown, but kernel privilege escalation vulnerabilities are highly valued by ransomware operators for disabling endpoint protection solutions prior to deploying ransomware payloads.
Remediation
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Apply the Microsoft security update — Install the latest cumulative update from Microsoft for all affected Windows versions. Refer to the Microsoft Security Response Center advisory for the specific KB articles corresponding to each affected operating system version.
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Prioritize based on affected versions — The following specific build numbers resolve the vulnerability: Windows 10 1809 and Server 2019 (10.0.17763.8027), Windows 10 21H2 (10.0.19044.6575), Windows 10 22H2 (10.0.19045.6575), Windows 11 23H2 (10.0.22631.6199), Windows 11 24H2 (10.0.26100.7092), Windows 11 25H2 (10.0.26200.7092), and Windows Server 2022 (10.0.20348.4346). Verify that your systems are at or above these build numbers after patching.
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Enforce least privilege access — Since the vulnerability requires local access with low-level privileges, reducing the number of users with interactive logon rights to critical systems limits the attack surface. Review group policies to ensure standard users do not have unnecessary local access to servers and workstations.
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Monitor for privilege escalation indicators — Deploy endpoint detection and response (EDR) rules that alert on unexpected SYSTEM-level process creation from standard user contexts. Watch for unusual kernel crash dumps or Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) events, which may indicate failed exploitation attempts of the race condition.
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Segment critical systems — For systems that cannot be immediately patched, implement network segmentation to limit lateral movement opportunities for an attacker who achieves privilege escalation on a single host.
Technical Details
The CVSS v3.1 vector for CVE-2025-62215 is AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, producing a score of 7.0. Attack Vector (Local) means the attacker must have local access to the target system — remote exploitation over the network alone is not possible. Attack Complexity (High) reflects the race condition nature of the vulnerability, where the attacker must precisely time their operations to trigger the double free during a narrow window of concurrent execution. Privileges Required (Low) indicates that a standard, non-administrative user account is sufficient to attempt exploitation.
The underlying vulnerability involves a race condition in the Windows Kernel where two or more threads can concurrently access a shared kernel resource without proper locking or synchronization. When an attacker manipulates the timing of these concurrent accesses — potentially through techniques such as CPU affinity manipulation, thread scheduling influence, or repeated rapid system calls — they can cause a memory region to be freed twice (double free). This double free corrupts the kernel's memory allocator metadata, and by carefully controlling the contents of reallocated memory blocks, the attacker can overwrite critical kernel data structures such as token objects or process structures. This enables the attacker to elevate their process token to SYSTEM level, granting full administrative control. The Scope (Unchanged) metric indicates the impact remains within the Windows operating system boundary, and all three CIA impact metrics are High because SYSTEM-level access provides complete control over the operating system's confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2025-62215?
CVE-2025-62215 is a privilege escalation vulnerability in the Windows Kernel caused by a race condition and double free memory corruption. It allows an attacker with standard user access to a Windows system to escalate their privileges to SYSTEM level, gaining complete control over the operating system.
Which Windows versions are affected?
The vulnerability affects Windows 10 versions 1809, 21H2, and 22H2, Windows 11 versions 23H2, 24H2, and 25H2, as well as Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server 2022. Both client and server editions across this broad range of versions are impacted.
How difficult is it to exploit this vulnerability?
The CVSS rating assigns a High attack complexity, meaning exploitation requires winning a race condition which is not always reliable. However, experienced attackers can often improve reliability through memory manipulation techniques. The KEV listing confirms that real-world exploitation has been achieved despite this complexity.
Is there a connection to ransomware?
The ransomware association is currently listed as unknown. However, kernel privilege escalation vulnerabilities are commonly used in ransomware attack chains to disable endpoint security products and gain the access needed to encrypt files across an organization.
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