Elevated Privilege Exposure in Windows Hyper-V by Microsoft

CVE-2025-21333

What is CVE-2025-21333?

CVE-2025-21333 is a vulnerability found in Microsoft’s Windows Hyper-V, which is a virtualization platform that allows users to create and manage virtual machines. This specific vulnerability resides in the integration components of the Hyper-V NT Kernel, potentially allowing an attacker to elevate their privileges. If exploited, this could enable unauthorized users to gain elevated access to the host operating system, which could significantly compromise the security of the entire virtualized environment within an organization.

Technical Details

This vulnerability is due to improper handling of specific integration scenarios within the Hyper-V environment. Attackers with certain access privileges could exploit this oversight to execute code with higher permissions than intended. This exploitation does not require the attacker to authenticate, increasing the risk of unauthorized exploitation within environments relying on Hyper-V for application hosting or development.

Potential Impact of CVE-2025-21333

1. Unauthorized Access: The primary concern is that attackers could gain elevated privileges, allowing them to access sensitive data and resources on the host machine, which could lead to unauthorized actions such as data theft or system manipulation.

2. Host Compromise: By exploiting this vulnerability, an attacker can potentially compromise not just the individual virtual machine but the entire host system, thereby affecting all contained virtual machines and their applications.

3. Increased Attack Surface: The existence of this vulnerability can expose organizations to a higher risk of further attacks, as it may serve as a foothold for malicious actors. If they can escalate their privilege within the system, they could install additional malware, propagate through the network, or launch attacks against other systems.

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