CVE Alert: CVE-2025-59216 – Microsoft – Windows Server 2025 (Server Core installation)

Risk verdict

High risk of local privilege escalation on affected Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025 builds; an official patch is available, so apply promptly.

Why this matters

An authenticated, local attacker can elevate from a low-privilege context to high integrity, enabling system takeover, persistence, and lateral movement from the host. The race condition and use-after-free in the Graphics Component heighten the potential for memory corruption and broader compromise, with no user interaction required.

Most likely attack path

Attacker must already have local access to the device (no UI required, low PR, high exploitation complexity). They would trigger the concurrency issue in the Graphics Component to gain higher privileges, establishing a foothold for post-exploitation activities within the host’s security boundary. Lateral movement would typically follow from compromised hosts rather than remote execution.

Who is most exposed

Enterprise endpoints running affected Windows 11 or Server 2025 deployments, especially those with graphics services or drivers enabled and local administrator or broad-privilege groups present.

Detection ideas

• Memory corruption events or crash dumps linked to the Graphics Component.
• Unusual privilege escalation attempts from non-interactive processes.
• Kernel-mode fault telemetry indicating use-after-free patterns.
• Spikes in GPU-thread contention or anomalous graphics subsystem activity.
• EDR alerts for privilege-escalation techniques or process injection on graphics-related processes.

Mitigation and prioritisation

• Apply the official patch to all affected editions (verify with WSUS/Intune and patch catalogs).
• Enforce least privilege for local accounts; restrict GPU/graphics driver updates to authorised channels.
• Enable memory integrity/guarded runtime features and robust ASR rules where available.
• Monitor crash dumps and graphics-process events; enable enhanced telemetry on affected hosts.
• Plan patch rollout in a staged change window; validate on representative systems before broad deployment.