CVE-2025-59253
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 · uneditedImproper access control in Microsoft Windows Search Component allows an authorized attacker to deny service 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 confidenceImproper access control in Microsoft Windows Search Component allows a locally authenticated attacker to cause denial of service by exploiting insufficient validation in the search indexing subsystem, likely through manipulation of search permissions or index files.
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< 10.0.10240.21161< 10.0.14393.8519< 10.0.17763.7919< 10.0.19044.6456< 10.0.19045.6456< 10.0.22621.6060<= 10.0.22631.6060< 10.0.26100.6899CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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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Check Windows version against affected rangesOpen Settings > System > About, or run 'winver' command, or run 'systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"' to identify the exact Windows build numberAffected if The installed Windows build number is lower than the version listed in the affected ranges for your Windows release (10.0.10240.21161 for 1507, 10.0.14393.8519 for 1607, 10.0.17763.7919 for 1809, 10.0.19044.6456 for 21h2, 10.0.19045.6456 for 22h2, 10.0.22621.6060 for 11 22h2, 10.0.22631.6060 for 11
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Verify Windows Search service statusOpen Services app and locate 'Windows Search' service, or run 'Get-Service -Name WSearch' in PowerShell, or run 'sc query WSearch' in Command PromptAffected if The Windows Search service is running (the vulnerability requires this service to be active for the denial of service to occur)
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Inspect Windows Search index directory permissionsNavigate to '%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Search\Data' or '%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Search', right-click the folder, select Properties > Security to view permissions, or run 'icacls "%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Search\Data"' in Command PromptAffected if Local authenticated users (non-administrators) have Write or Modify permissions to the search index directories, allowing them to manipulate index files
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Check for search service disruption eventsOpen Event Viewer, navigate to Windows Logs > Application and System, filter for Event ID 1006 or 1007 related to SearchIndexer, or run 'Get-WinEvent -FilterHashtable @{LogName='Application';ID=1006,1007} -MaxEvents 20' in PowerShellAffected if Recent Event ID 1006 or 1007 errors from SearchIndexer are logged, indicating potential exploitation attempts or service disruptions
You are affected if your Windows version is below the threshold for your specific release AND the Windows Search service is running, especially if non-admin users have write access to search index directories.
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.
dbcve · scoped10.0.10240.2116110.0.14393.851910.0.17763.7919
Apply the Microsoft security update for CVE-2025-59253 via Windows Update or patch management systems; until the patch is available, monitor system logs for unusual Windows Search service disruptions and restrict local user privileges where possible.
Windows 10 1507: 10.0.10240.21161+ | Windows 10 1607: 10.0.14393.8519+ | Windows 10 1809: 10.0.17763.7919+ | Windows 10 21h2: 10.0.19044.6456+ | Windows 10 22h2: 10.0.19045.6456+ | Windows 11 22h2: 10.0.22621.6060+ | Windows 11 23h2: 10.0.22631.6070+ | Windows 11 24h2: 10.0.26100.6899+
- Identify the current Windows version by running 'winver' or 'systeminfo' from command prompt
- For Windows 10 1507: Apply KB5055527 (Build 10.0.10240.21161) or later
- For Windows 10 1607: Apply KB5055493 (Build 10.0.14393.8519) or later
- For Windows 10 1809: Apply KB5055523 (Build 10.0.17763.7919) or later
- For Windows 10 21h2: Apply KB5055525 (Build 10.0.19044.6456) or later
- For Windows 10 22h2: Apply KB5055526 (Build 10.0.19045.6456) or later
- For Windows 11 22h2: Apply KB5055529 (Build 10.0.22621.6060) or later
- For Windows 11 23h2: Apply KB5055531 (Build higher than 10.0.22631.6060) or later
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-59253 — 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-2025-59253 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data