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Windows Hardware Lab KitApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2025-27488

MEDIUM · 6.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-05-13
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.1.17763.7010 / 10.1.19041.5609 or later.
See remediation →
69/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Use of hard-coded credentials in Windows Hardware Lab Kit allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

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

The Windows Hardware Lab Kit contains hard-coded credentials that can be exploited by an authorized local attacker to elevate privileges. An attacker with existing low-level access can leverage these embedded credentials to gain higher-level system access.

MitigationReplace hard-coded credentials with proper credential management mechanisms such as Windows Credential Manager, environment variables, or secure configuration storage; audit for similar credential issues in the affected component.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Windows Hardware Lab KitApplication
Affected:< 10.1.17763.7010< 10.1.19041.5609< 10.1.20348.3330< 10.1.22621.5040< 10.1.26100.3478

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
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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. Verify Windows Hardware Lab Kit installation
    Check for Windows Hardware Lab Kit in the list of installed programs via Control Panel > Programs and Features, or query the Windows Registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for entries containing 'Hardware Lab Kit' or 'HLK'
    Affected if Windows Hardware Lab Kit appears in the installed programs list
  2. Determine installed HLK version
    Locate the HLK installation directory (typically under C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Hardware Lab Kit or C:\Program Files\Windows Hardware Lab Kit) and check the version information of the main executable, or query the registry key found in the previous step for the DisplayVersion value
    Affected if The version displayed is less than 10.1.17763.7010, 10.1.19041.5609, 10.1.20348.3330, 10.1.22621.5040, or 10.1.26100.3478 depending on the build number prefix
  3. Identify HLK service accounts
    Open Services console (services.msc) and look for any Windows Hardware Lab Kit services, then right-click and select Properties to view the account configured to run each service
    Affected if Any HLK service is configured to run using a hard-coded credential rather than a managed service account
  4. Audit HLK configuration files for embedded credentials
    Search the HLK installation directory for configuration files (XML, INI, JSON, or config files) that may contain username/password pairs, encrypted credentials, or plaintext passwords within the file contents
    Affected if Configuration files in the HLK directory contain embedded username and password fields or credential strings

A user is affected if Windows Hardware Lab Kit is installed and its version falls below any of the specified version thresholds, creating a condition where hard-coded credentials could be exploited for 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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 10.1.17763.7010 / 10.1.19041.5609 / 10.1.20348.3330 or later
Fixed in 10.1.17763.701010.1.19041.560910.1.20348.3330
Interim mitigation

Replace hard-coded credentials with proper credential management mechanisms such as Windows Credential Manager, environment variables, or secure configuration storage; audit for similar credential issues in the affected component.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Windows Hardware Lab Kit 10.1.22621.5040 (or the appropriate version for your OS branch: 10.1.17763.7010 for Windows 10 1809, 10.1.19041.5609 for Windows 10 1903, 10.1.20348.3330 for Windows Server 2022)

  1. Identify the currently installed version of Windows Hardware Lab Kit (HLK) via Add or Remove Programs or the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Hardware Lab Kit.
  2. Download the latest HLK update from the Microsoft Update Catalog or the official Microsoft Hardware Dev Center that corresponds to your Windows version (e.g., Windows 10 1809, 1903, Windows Server 2022, or Windows 11 22H2).
  3. Run the installer and follow the on‑screen instructions, choosing to preserve existing test configurations if prompted.
  4. After installation, verify the HLK version meets or exceeds one of the fixed releases: 10.1.17763.7010, 10.1.19041.5609, 10.1.20348.3330, or 10.1.22621.5040.
  5. Re‑run your HLK test suites to confirm that functionality is intact.
Caveat Upgrade may require reinstalling test certificates or re‑running tests; review the release notes for any compatibility changes.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Windows Hardware Lab Kit 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 the upgrade done

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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2025-27488 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