CVE-2025-12051
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe drivers in the tool packages use RTL_QUERY_REGISTRY_DIRECT flag to read a registry value to which an untrusted user-mode application may be able to cause a buffer overflow.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceThe vulnerability exists in drivers within tool packages that use the RTL_QUERY_REGISTRY_DIRECT flag to read registry values. An untrusted local user can manipulate registry values to cause a buffer overflow in kernel/driver context, potentially achieving privilege escalation.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Enumerate third-party drivers from tool packagesUse 'driverquery /v' or tools like Autoruns to list loaded drivers. Focus on drivers installed by utility, diagnostic, or tool packages (not built-in Windows drivers). Record the driver names and file paths.Affected if A third-party driver from a tool package is loaded that uses RTL_QUERY_REGISTRY_DIRECT to read registry values.
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Analyze driver registry read operationsExamine the driver binary for references to 'RTL_QUERY_REGISTRY_DIRECT' using strings, binwalk, or a disassembler. This API flag indicates the driver reads registry values directly into fixed-size buffers.Affected if The driver contains strings matching 'RTL_QUERY_REGISTRY_DIRECT', indicating it uses this vulnerable pattern.
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Identify registry keys accessed by driversUse tools like Microsoft Sysinternals Process Monitor or driver-specific debugging to observe which registry keys the driver reads at runtime. Check both HKLM and HKCU registry hives.Affected if The driver reads registry values under keys that untrusted users can write to or modify.
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Check registry key permissions for driver-accessed keysUse regedit or 'reg query' with access check features to examine ACLs on the registry keys the driver reads. Identify if 'Users' or 'Authenticated Users' have write or full control permissions.Affected if Non-admin users have write permissions on registry keys that the affected driver reads, allowing them to manipulate values.
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Verify if low-privilege users can create registry keysAttempt to create a test registry key under the paths the driver reads (e.g., in HKLM\SOFTWARE\ or driver-specific paths) using a standard user account. Use 'reg add' command.Affected if A standard (non-admin) user can create or modify registry values in paths that the driver accesses, enabling the buffer overflow condition.
Your environment is affected if a tool package driver using RTL_QUERY_REGISTRY_DIRECT is installed and untrusted users have write access to the registry keys that driver reads.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataApply vendor patches for affected tool packages when available. Until patches are released, restrict access to the affected drivers and follow least-privilege principles to limit which users can interact with these components.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation24.0 h
- Testing16.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-12051 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-12051 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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