CVE-2025-27740
Remediation/Mitigation Strategy for CVE-2025-27740
Vulnerability Description:
Weak authentication in Windows Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges over a network.
Severity:
- CVSS Score: 8.8 (High)
- Impact: Privilege Escalation
Known Exploit:
Details of specific exploits are currently not publicly available. However, the vulnerability description indicates that successful exploitation leads to privilege escalation within the network via AD CS. Potential exploitation vectors include:
- Credential Relaying: Exploiting weak authentication protocols to relay credentials and gain access to privileged accounts.
- Certificate Manipulation: Attacking the certificate enrollment process to obtain certificates with elevated privileges.
- Exploiting Misconfigurations: Taking advantage of insecure configurations within AD CS, such as weak password policies or insufficient access controls.
Mitigation/Remediation Steps:
Strengthen Authentication Protocols:
- Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Enforce MFA for all privileged accounts and critical services within AD CS.
- Disable Weak Authentication Protocols: Identify and disable outdated or insecure authentication protocols such as NTLM, and replace them with stronger alternatives like Kerberos.
- Enforce Strong Password Policies: Implement and enforce strong password policies for all user accounts, including complexity requirements, minimum length, and regular password rotation.
Secure Certificate Enrollment Processes:
- Implement Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Restrict access to certificate enrollment and management functions based on the principle of least privilege.
- Review Certificate Templates: Audit and review all certificate templates to ensure they are configured with appropriate security settings and prevent the issuance of certificates with excessive permissions.
- Implement Enrollment Agent Authorization: Use enrollment agents to control which users can request specific types of certificates.
- Monitor Certificate Activity: Implement monitoring and alerting mechanisms to detect unauthorized or suspicious certificate enrollment activities.
Harden Active Directory Certificate Services Configuration:
- Regularly Audit AD CS: Conduct regular security audits of AD CS infrastructure to identify and remediate potential misconfigurations.
- Apply Security Patches: Ensure that all servers running AD CS are up-to-date with the latest security patches from Microsoft.
- Secure AD CS Server: Implement security best practices for securing the AD CS server, including hardening the operating system, restricting network access, and monitoring for suspicious activity.
- Segment the Network: Implement network segmentation to limit the impact of a successful attack on AD CS.
- Monitor Logs: Enable and actively monitor AD CS logs for suspicious activity, including failed login attempts, certificate requests from unusual sources, and modifications to AD CS configuration.
Incident Response Planning:
- Update Incident Response Plan: Update the organization’s incident response plan to include specific procedures for responding to incidents involving AD CS compromise.
- Regular Security Awareness Training: Provide regular security awareness training to users and administrators on the risks associated with weak authentication and the importance of following security best practices.
Monitor for Exploitation:
- Implement Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS): Deploy IDS and intrusion prevention systems (IPS) to monitor network traffic and system logs for signs of exploitation attempts.
- Utilize Security Information and Event Management (SIEM): Collect and analyze security logs from various sources to detect and respond to potential security incidents related to AD CS.
By implementing these mitigation and remediation steps, organizations can significantly reduce the risk of exploitation of CVE-2025-27740 and protect their Active Directory environment from privilege escalation attacks.
Assigner
- Microsoft Corporation [email protected]
Date
- Published Date: 2025-04-08 17:23:21
- Updated Date: 2025-04-08 18:16:03