Local privilege escalation via use-after-free
Published Jul 8, 2025 · Updated Feb 26, 2026
Use-after-free in Microsoft Windows Search Component allows local users with low privileges to elevate privileges on affected Windows builds. Microsoft has not disclosed the affected routine or the operation that releases and later reuses the freed object within Windows Search. Successful exploitation requires local low-privilege access and grants control at a higher privilege level, with no remote attack path reported.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in Microsoft Windows Search Component allows local users with low privileges to elevate privileges on affected Windows builds. Microsoft has not disclosed the affected routine or the operation that releases and later reuses the freed object within Windows Search. Successful exploitation requires local low-privilege access and grants control at a higher privilege level, with no remote attack path reported.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-49685
- Published
- Jul 8, 2025
- Updated
- Feb 26, 2026
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Windows Server 2019
- Classifications
- CWE-416, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jul 8, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Feb 26, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=10.0.17763.0 <10.0.17763.7558
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.
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo