SYSTEM privilege escalation via unvalidated pointer dereference
Published Apr 8, 2025 · Updated Aug 10, 2026
Untrusted pointer dereference in dxkrnl.sys in Microsoft Windows allows local users to elevate privileges to SYSTEM via low-privileged code. The driver dereferences a user-supplied value as a pointer without first validating that value. An attacker must already be able to execute low-privileged code locally; successful exploitation permits arbitrary code execution in the SYSTEM context.
Summary
What happened
Untrusted pointer dereference in dxkrnl.sys in Microsoft Windows allows local users to elevate privileges to SYSTEM via low-privileged code. The driver dereferences a user-supplied value as a pointer without first validating that value. An attacker must already be able to execute low-privileged code locally; successful exploitation permits arbitrary code execution in the SYSTEM context.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-29812
- Published
- Apr 8, 2025
- Updated
- Aug 10, 2026
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Windows Server 2025 (Server Core installation)
- Classifications
- CWE-822, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Apr 8, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 10, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=10.0.26100.0 <10.0.26100.3775
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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