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CVE-2025-21204 is a local elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Windows Update Stack caused by improper link resolution before file access (link following). According to the provided content, the flaw allows an authorized attacker to exploit link handling during update-related file operations so that privileged Windows update processes access an unintended file-system target. Microsoft also tied a post-patch hardening change to this issue: after installing the relevant update or a later Windows update, Windows creates a new %systemdrive%\inetpub folder and advises that it must not be deleted, even when IIS is not enabled. Based on the available information, the vulnerable condition is a symlink/hardlink-style path resolution issue in update stack file access logic rather than a remote attack surface.
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What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.
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Patch, then assume compromise.
No valid public exploits. Mallory filtered out 1 candidate as fakes, detection scripts, or README-only repos.
All candidate exploits were filtered out by Mallory's validation.
Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.
Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.
13 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
A Windows OS security vulnerability referenced by Microsoft as the reason for creating a new %systemdrive%\inetpub folder after installing the update; the update adds protections automatically.
A remote code execution vulnerability in Windows LDAP service, potentially allowing unauthenticated attackers to compromise Active Directory environments.
Unknown. Listed as a trending critical vulnerability for this week, affecting Microsoft Windows.
Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.
Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.
Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.
Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.