Improper Access ControlWeakness · CWE-284

CVE-2025-1865

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-04-04
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 kernel driver, accessible to low-privileged users, exposes a function that fails to properly validate the privileges of the calling process. This allows creating files at arbitrary locations with full user control, ultimately allowing for privilege escalation to SYSTEM.

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

A kernel driver exposes a function accessible to low-privileged users that fails to properly validate the privileges of the calling process. This allows an attacker to create files at arbitrary locations with full user-controlled content, enabling privilege escalation to SYSTEM.

MitigationApply the vendor patch for the vulnerable kernel driver, or if the driver is from a third party and unnecessary, remove or disable it to eliminate the attack vector.

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 the vulnerable kernel driver
    Use system profiling tools (like 'driverquery' on Windows or 'lsmod'/'modinfo' on Linux) to enumerate loaded kernel drivers. If the specific driver name is known from vendor advisories, search for it in the driver list.
    Affected if The vulnerable kernel driver is loaded and running on the system.
  2. Check if the driver exposes a device interface to user-mode
    Examine the driver's registered device paths (e.g., in \Device\ or /dev/ on Linux). Use tools like 'winobj' (Windows) or check /sys/class/ (Linux) to list device objects created by drivers.
    Affected if The driver creates a device interface accessible from user-mode processes.
  3. Verify file permissions on the driver device
    Check the Security Descriptor Definition Language (SDDL) string or ACL permissions on the device object. On Windows, use 'get-acl' on the device path; on Linux, check device file permissions with 'ls -la'. Look for 'Everyone' or 'Users' with read/write access.
    Affected if Low-privileged users (non-admin/non-root) have permission to communicate with the driver device.
  4. Test for arbitrary file creation capability
    If the driver exposes an IOCTL or device interface suspected of allowing file creation, attempt to create a test file in a restricted directory using a low-privilege account or process. Observe if the operation succeeds.
    Affected if A low-privileged user or process can create files in locations that should require elevated privileges.
  5. Audit for recent privilege escalation indicators
    Review security event logs (Windows Event Viewer > Security, or Linux audit logs) for new service installations, scheduled tasks, or DLL/hijack placements coinciding with driver load times. Look for unexpected file creations in System32/SysWOW64 or /bin directories.
    Affected if Files appear in protected system directories that were not created by legitimate administrators or system processes.

A user is affected if a kernel driver exposing file creation functionality to low-privileged users is loaded and accessible without elevation, allowing arbitrary file writes that can lead to SYSTEM/root privilege escalation.

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 the vendor patch for the vulnerable kernel driver, or if the driver is from a third party and unnecessary, remove or disable it to eliminate the attack vector.

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
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-1865 — 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-2025-1865 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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