A new vulnerability, CVE-2025-59204, has recently been assigned to a security flaw discovered in Windows Management Services (WMS). This vulnerability, when exploited correctly, enables an attacker who already has local access and authorization to the target Windows machine to potentially disclose sensitive information by leveraging an uninitialized resource usage.

This long-read post breaks down the details of CVE-2025-59204, offers a code snippet illustrating the bug's nature, covers how an attacker might exploit it, and summarizes official references for further reading.

What is CVE-2025-59204?

At its core, CVE-2025-59204 is about improper initialization: WMS fails to correctly initialize certain resources (such as memory blocks or handles) before making them accessible to user processes.

Attackers can take advantage of these uninitialized resources to glean bits of memory content. Depending on what's left in that memory, this can expose sensitive info, such as:

Other privileged information

This vulnerability is rated as a local information disclosure issue. It does _not_ allow for remote exploitation or privilege escalation directly, but if a malicious user can run code locally, they may be able to retrieve secrets from previously executed processes.

How Does the Bug Work?

When Windows Management Services performs some operations, it allocates system resources (ex: memory, object handles) to handle user or program requests. Due to this bug, certain buffers or resources are *not* filled with neutral data (like zeros) before being passed or exposed.

If a malicious program queries WMS in a specific way, it can retrieve these uninitialized resources—possibly "leaking" whatever junk was in that memory or buffer, which could have been sensitive information left from another process.

Example Code Snippet

The below pseudo-code illustrates the vulnerable pattern.

// Example: Improper initialization in Windows Management Service
struct ResourceBuffer {
    char data[1024];
    // no explicit zeroing or initialization
};

void HandleRequest(UserRequest req) {
    ResourceBuffer buffer; // uninitialized local structure

    if (req.needsData) {
        // Only partially fill buffer.data
        memcpy(buffer.data, req.input, req.inputLen);
        // Fails to clear the rest of the buffer
    }

    // Returns the entire buffer, including uninitialized parts
    SendResponse(req.client, buffer.data, sizeof(buffer.data));
}

In this example, SendResponse() would send the entire buffer back, including parts that were never assigned new values — leaking whatever happens to be in memory.

This pattern is typical in information disclosure bugs stemming from uninitialized memory or resources.

Who Can Exploit CVE-2025-59204?

Only users with valid credentials and local access can exploit this bug—it does not allow attackers to jump in remotely.

Interact With WMS

- The program repeatedly triggers the buggy API or service behavior from WMS that mishandles the buffer or resource.

Harvest Returned Data

- On each call, the attacker inspects the results, filtering out actual responses from leaked, uninitialized data.

Conceptual Exploit Sketch

# Python pseudocode for info leak via WMS API (requires local access)

for i in range(100):
    data = query_wms_vulnerable_api()
    if contains_sensitive(data):
        print("[!] Found sensitive data:", extract_highlights(data))

Real-World Impact

While the attacker can't escalate privileges directly, they can piece together system secrets, help in crafting further attacks, or steal session credentials.

Microsoft Security Update Guide for CVE-2025-59204:

https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2025-59204

NVD Entry:

https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-59204 (see for technical rating & patch status)

Summary

CVE-2025-59204 is a local information disclosure bug in Windows Management Services caused by the use of uninitialized resources. While it doesn't allow for instant takeover of a system, it can leak bits of sensitive information to any authenticated attacker with local access.

Patches are available—don't delay in updating your systems. More details can be found at the links above.


_Disclaimer: This post is for educational purposes only. Do not attempt to exploit vulnerabilities on systems you don't own or have permission to test._

Timeline

Published on: 10/14/2025 17:16:00 UTC
Last modified on: 12/11/2025 19:35:22 UTC