Microsoft Security Advisory CVE-2025-25004: PowerShell Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability #81
Description
Microsoft Security Advisory CVE-2025-25004: PowerShell Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
Executive Summary
Improper access control in PowerShell 7 allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.
System administrators are advised to update PowerShell 7 to an unaffected version (see affected software).
Discussion
Please open a support question to discuss the PowerShell aspects of this advisory.
Affected Software
The vulnerability affects PowerShell 7 prior to the following versions:
| PowerShell 7 Version | Affected version | Patched Version |
|---|---|---|
| 7.5 | <= 7.5.3 | 7.5.4 |
| 7.4 | <= 7.4.12 | 7.4.13 |
The vulnerability affects PowerShell when running on the following operating systems:
| Operating System | Affected |
|---|---|
| Windows | Yes |
| macOS | No |
| Linux | No |
Advisory FAQ
What privileges could be gained by an attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability?
An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could create, modify, or delete files in the security context of the NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM account.
According to the CVSS metric, user interaction is required (UI:R) and privileges required is Low (PR:L). What does that mean for this vulnerability?
An authenticated attacker could place a malicious file in a specified custom module path and then wait for a user to run a privileged .NET application that starts a PowerShell session under NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM privileges
How do I know if I am affected?
If all of the following are true:
- Run
pwsh -v, then, check the version in the table in Affected Software to see if your version of PowerShell 7 is affected.
How do I update to an unaffected version?
Follow the instructions at Installing PowerShell 7 to install the latest version of PowerShell 7.
Updating PowerShell 7 using Microsoft Update
Updating PowerShell 7 using Microsoft Update
Mitigation factors
This only affects PowerShell sessions running as NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM and not a standard user.
Other Information
Reporting Security Issues
If you have found a potential security issue in PowerShell 7,
please email details to secure@microsoft.com.
Support
You can ask questions about this issue on GitHub in the PowerShell organization.
This is located at https://github.com/PowerShell/.
The Announcements repo (https://github.com/PowerShell/Announcements)
will contain this bulletin as an issue and will include a link to a discussion issue where you can ask questions.
Disclaimer
The information provided in this advisory is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Microsoft disclaims all warranties, either express or implied, including the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall Microsoft Corporation or its suppliers be liable for any damages whatsoever including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, loss of business profits or special damages, even if Microsoft Corporation or its suppliers have been advised of the possibility of such damages. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages so the foregoing limitation may not apply.
What if the update breaks my script or module?
You can uninstall the newer version of PowerShell 7 and install the previous version of PowerShell 7.
This should be treated as a temporary measure.
Therefore, the script or module should be updated to work with the patched version of PowerShell 7.
Acknowledgments
tsuki
Casper
Microsoft recognizes the efforts of those in the security community who help us protect customers through coordinated vulnerability disclosure.
See acknowledgments for more information.
External Links
Revisions
V1.0 (October 21, 2025): Advisory published.
Version 1.0
Last Updated 2023-10-21