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Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2021 - Vulnerable and Outdated Components
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Memory lifecycle management
MITRE ATT&CK

2 techniques across 2 tactics: Execution, Privilege Escalation

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Impact

High risk (CVSS 7.8). AFD.sys, like CLFS, is a recurring kernel exploitation target. Its role in Winsock operations ensures it's loaded on every Windows system.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

Local exploit triggered through crafted Winsock operations that cause the AFD driver to dereference a null pointer in a controllable way, leading to kernel code execution and SYSTEM privilege escalation.

Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Why: Active threat signals + CRITICAL/HIGH severity.
Exploited in the wild (CISA KEV) No patch listed yet 1.0% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Mar 28, 2026

Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock contains a use-after-free enabling local privilege escalation through a null pointer dereference, exploited in May 2025.

Earlier versions of this analysis (1)
v1 Mar 28, 2026 - 18:41 CVSS 7.8

A use-after-free (manifesting as null pointer dereference) in Windows AFD.sys enables local privilege escalation. AFD.sys is a frequent target due to its always-loaded status and user-mode accessibility.

RemediationAI

Apply May 2025 security updates.

Affects your stack

Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

The CWE-416 vulnerability in afd.sys causes a null pointer dereference condition that can be exploited for privilege escalation through controlled kernel memory access patterns.

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  • Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY 7.8 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.

CVSS VectorNVD

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

2
Added to CISA KEV
Feb 13, 2026 - 21:37 cisa
CISA KEV
CVE Published
May 13, 2025 - 17:16 nvd
HIGH 7.8

DescriptionCVE.org

Null pointer dereference in Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

Organizations using Null pointer dereference in Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock face notable risk from CVE-2025-32709, a use-after-free vulnerability rated CVSS 7.8. Exploitation could compromise the security of affected deployments. This vulnerability is actively exploited in the wild (KEV-listed) and requires immediate remediation. Immediate patching is required per CISA KEV mandate.

Business Impact: Severe
Compensating Controls

Apply vendor patch. If immediate patching is not feasible: (1) Enable ASLR and DEP where available; (2) Implement network segmentation; (3) Monitor for exploitation indicators.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
1.0%
Top 23% exploitable
Data Quality
4 sources
Confidence: Medium

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity HIGH
CISA KEV Yes
Public POC No
EPSS 1.0%
Patch available No
Active threat Yes
Deciding rule
Active threat signals + CRITICAL/HIGH severity
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Out-of-Cycle
Exploitation· derived
Active
System Exposure· derived
Small
Automatable· derived
No
Human Impact
Very High

Priority Score

90
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: +50
EPSS: +1
CVSS: +39
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Use-after-free vulnerabilities occur when a program continues to access memory through a pointer after that memory has been deallocated.

Memory corruption occurs when a program writes data beyond the boundaries of allocated memory regions or accesses memory in unintended ways, violating the integrity of the process's address space.

Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.

Affected Products (CPE)CVE.org

cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_1507:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_1607:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_1809:*:*:*:*:*:*:x64:*
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_1809:*:*:*:*:*:*:x86:*
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_21h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_22h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_11_22h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_11_23h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_11_24h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2008:-:sp2:*:*:*:*:x64:*
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2008:-:sp2:*:*:*:*:x86:*
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2008:r2:sp1:*:*:*:*:x64:*
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2012:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2012:r2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2016:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2019:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2022:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2022_23h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2025:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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