Local privilege escalation via kernel use-after-free
Published Aug 12, 2025 · Updated Feb 26, 2026
Use-after-free in the Microsoft Windows Kernel allows local users with low privileges to elevate privileges on affected Windows systems. Microsoft identifies the memory-lifetime error only at the Windows Kernel level and has not published the responsible function, object, or stale-reference operation. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access and grants elevated privileges on the host.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in the Microsoft Windows Kernel allows local users with low privileges to elevate privileges on affected Windows systems. Microsoft identifies the memory-lifetime error only at the Windows Kernel level and has not published the responsible function, object, or stale-reference operation. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access and grants elevated privileges on the host.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-53151
- Published
- Aug 12, 2025
- Updated
- Feb 26, 2026
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Windows Server 2019
- Classifications
- CWE-416, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 12, 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
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=10.0.17763.0 <10.0.17763.7678
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.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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