Out-of-bounds WriteWeakness · CWE-787

CVE-2025-12052

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-01-14
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

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 · unedited
The 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 confidence

Windows kernel drivers in tool packages use the RTL_QUERY_REGISTRY_DIRECT flag to read registry values without proper buffer size validation, allowing an untrusted user-mode application to trigger a buffer overflow and potentially escalate privileges to kernel level.

MitigationApply vendor patches for affected drivers; until then, restrict untrusted user access to systems running affected software and monitor for suspicious user-mode processes.

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed tool packages with kernel drivers
    Review installed software on the system, focusing on diagnostic tools, system utilities, third-party driver packages, or development toolchains that may include Windows kernel drivers. Check Program Files and Program Files (x86) directories for such packages.
    Affected if Affected tool packages with vulnerable kernel drivers are installed on the system
  2. Check for known vulnerable driver files
    Search for driver files (.sys) in tool package directories. Use 'Get-ChildItem -Path $env:ProgramFiles,$env:ProgramFiles(x86) -Recurse -Filter *.sys -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue' to enumerate installed drivers from third-party tools.
    Affected if Driver files from affected tool packages exist on the system
  3. Verify driver signature status
    Use 'sigcheck.exe' or 'Get-AuthenticodeSignature' PowerShell cmdlet on identified driver files to check if they are signed and note any validation errors.
    Affected if Drivers are present but improperly signed or have known signature issues
  4. Assess registry key accessibility
    Since the flaw involves reading registry values without buffer validation, identify which registry keys the installed drivers access. Use Process Monitor or driver documentation to trace registry read operations.
    Affected if Registry keys read by the driver are accessible to untrusted user-mode processes
  5. Review user privilege boundaries
    Check which non-privileged or untrusted users have interactive logon access to the system using 'Get-LocalUser' or Active Directory user enumeration. Determine if these users can execute code on the system.
    Affected if Untrusted or low-privilege users have the ability to run applications on the system

The system is affected if untrusted user-mode applications can access the system while vulnerable kernel drivers from affected tool packages are installed and actively read registry values without proper buffer validation.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply vendor patches for affected drivers; until then, restrict untrusted user access to systems running affected software and monitor for suspicious user-mode processes.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-12052 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-12052 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data