CVE-2025-33053: Microsoft Windows External Control of File Name or Path Vulnerability

Is it exploited?

Yes. CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 10 Jun 2025, the same day the CVE record was published.

How likely is exploitation in the next 30 days?

87%

EPSS score, percentile 99.7 of all scored records

How severe?

8.8 High

CVSS v3.1 base score, given by the CNA

What should I do?

CISA deadline 1 Jul 2025. Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

Advisories and patches (1)

Which versions are affected?

Affected

• from 10.0.10240.0 to before 10.0.10240.21034
• from 10.0.14393.0 to before 10.0.14393.8148
• from 10.0.17763.0 to before 10.0.17763.7434
• from 10.0.19044.0 to before 10.0.19044.5965
• from 10.0.19045.0 to before 10.0.19045.5965
• from 10.0.22621.0 to before 10.0.22621.5472

and 14 more in the table below

Versions by product

Source: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, 2026.10.28, as of 28 Oct 2026; FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), v2026.06.15, as of 28 Oct 2026; CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of 28 Oct 2026. About the data.

What to do

CISA due date for this action: 1 July 2025.

Advisories and patches

• Internet Shortcut Files Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (Vendor advisory, Patch)

Linked from CISA's catalog entry

• https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/en-US/vulnerability/CVE-2025-33053
• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-33053

Affected products and versions

As listed in the CVE record.

Source: CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of 28 Oct 2026. About the data.

About this vulnerability

Microsoft Windows contains an external control of file name or path vulnerability that could allow an attacker to execute code from a remote WebDAV location specified by the WorkingDirectory attribute of Internet Shortcut files.

Summary: CISA's KEV catalog, as of 28 Oct 2026.

• CISA added CVE-2025-33053 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 10 Jun 2025.
• CISA's ransomware flag for this entry is "Unknown": no evidence of ransomware use in the catalog, which is not proof of none.
• The due date CISA sets for the required action is 1 Jul 2025.
• The CVE record was published on 10 Jun 2025, the same day it was added to KEV.
• The CVE record carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (High), given by its CNA.
• FIRST's EPSS model puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 87% (percentile 99.7), as of 28 Oct 2026.
• CISA's SSVC assessment in the CVE record: exploitation active, automatable no, technical impact total.

Source: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, 2026.10.28, as of 28 Oct 2026; CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of 28 Oct 2026; FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), v2026.06.15, as of 28 Oct 2026. About the data.

Description

Internet Shortcut Files Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

External control of file name or path in Internet Shortcut Files allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code over a network.

Source: CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of 28 Oct 2026. About the data.

Weakness

• CWE-73: External Control of File Name or Path

CWE and CAPEC are maintained by MITRE; the entries are those named in the CVE record and the KEV entry.

Timeline

More exploited Microsoft vulnerabilities

• CVE-2026-96951: Microsoft Windows Command Injection Vulnerability (added 13 Oct 2026)
• CVE-2026-65660: Microsoft SharePoint Code Injection Vulnerability (added 25 Sep 2026)
• CVE-2026-81963: Microsoft Windows Link Following Vulnerability (added 8 Sep 2026)
• CVE-2026-85880: Microsoft Windows Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Vulnerability (added 8 Sep 2026)
• CVE-2019-1068: Microsoft SQL Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (added 26 Aug 2026)
• CVE-2026-33824: Microsoft Internet Key Exchange (IKE) Service Extensions Double Free Vulnerability (added 18 Aug 2026)