The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued an urgent alert regarding active exploitation of a critical vulnerability in the Microsoft Windows Common Log File System (CLFS) Driver.
The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-29824, poses a significant security risk by allowing attackers to locally elevate privileges on compromised systems.
The flaw is categorized as a Use-After-Free vulnerability—a type of memory corruption issue that occurs when a program attempts to access memory after it has been freed.
This specific issue in the CLFS Driver could enable authorized attackers to execute malicious code with escalated privileges, potentially leading to complete system compromise.
Vulnerability Details
- CVE ID: CVE-2025-29824
- Component: Microsoft Windows Common Log File System (CLFS) Driver
- Type: Use-After-Free
- Related CWE: CWE-416 (Use-After-Free)
Microsoft has confirmed this vulnerability impacts a variety of Windows systems and is actively being exploited in the wild.
The exploit does not rely on user interaction, making it particularly dangerous when systems are left unpatched.
At this time, it is unknown if CVE-2025-29824 is being utilized in ransomware campaigns; however, similar vulnerabilities have historically been leveraged by threat actors to deploy ransomware, steal data, or achieve persistence within networks.
CISA’s Guidance and Recommendations
CISA has emphasized the urgency of mitigating CVE-2025-29824, highlighting that failure to address this flaw could leave enterprise environments vulnerable to potentially devastating attacks.
The agency advises organizations to take the following actions:
- Apply Vendor Mitigations: Review Microsoft’s official guidance and implement patches or mitigations for CVE-2025-29824 if available. Organizations running affected systems should prioritize applying these updates.
- Follow BOD 22-01 Guidance: For cloud-based environments, refer to CISA’s Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 22-01, which emphasizes prioritizing known exploited vulnerabilities.
- Consider Product Discontinuation: If vendor-provided patches or mitigations are not available, temporarily discontinuing the use of affected products may be necessary to minimize risks.
CISA also encourages organizations to conduct proactive threat hunting on their networks to detect any signs of exploitation and ensure they are following cybersecurity best practices, such as enforcing the principle of least privilege and monitoring for abnormal account activity.
Although the full scope of exploitation for CVE-2025-29824 is not yet clear, its critical nature and active exploitation underline the urgency of addressing security vulnerabilities promptly.
Organizations are reminded that privilege escalation vulnerabilities like this one are often precursors to more significant attacks, including lateral movement and system-wide breaches.
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