Description
A critical vulnerability has been identified in the Microsoft Power Pages platform, tracked as CVE-2025-24989. This vulnerability arises due to improper access control mechanisms that could allow an unauthorized attacker to elevate privileges over a network, effectively bypassing the user registration control system. Such a loophole creates avenues for exploitation and misuse, endangering the integrity and security of affected systems. This issue has already been mitigated in the service, and affected customers have been notified along with instructions for site reviews and cleanup measures. If organizations have not been informed, they are not impacted by this vulnerability.
Affected Product(s)
- Microsoft Power Pages (CPE): cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:power_pages:-:
- Additional References: CERT-HK has also flagged Microsoft Power Pages and Microsoft Bing for associated risks.
Technical Details
CVE-2025-24989 is an elevation of privilege vulnerability caused by improper access control in Microsoft Power Pages. Microsoft Power Pages is a tool designed for creating, hosting, and managing secure business-centric public websites. This vulnerability is rooted in a flaw in the user registration control mechanism designed to regulate access to sensitive workflows and data.
Attackers exploiting CVE-2025-24989 could remotely bypass this registration mechanism to acquire higher privileges on the Power Pages platform. Elevated privileges provide attackers unrestricted access to core system functionalities, including the potential control over user-generated content, system configurations, and sensitive user data.
By manipulating requests sent to the server or employing reverse engineering methods to bypass security checks in Power Pages, an attacker could bypass the restricted user registration pipeline. Consequently, such unauthorized activity compromises system integrity and allows malicious actors to impersonate legitimate users. Once elevated privileges are achieved, attackers could exfiltrate valuable organizational data, deploy malicious scripts, or exploit the system further for downstream attacks.
No specific details are publicly available regarding whether exploitation requires prior access to the network or privileged accounts, but given a CVSS score of 9.8, the vulnerability is highly exploitable. Additionally, malicious actors leveraging this vulnerability must craft their attack payloads explicitly targeting Microsoft Power Pages’ improper access control mechanisms.
Microsoft’s response includes mitigation actions, suggesting they identified potential vectors employed by attackers and patched the vulnerability. They also recommended affected organizations review their hosted sites to identify signs of exploitation and implement cleanup procedures when necessary.
Reference links from entities like HKCERT and NVD provide further technical insight into the vulnerability. These sources emphasize the urgency in addressing improper access control mechanisms that introduce high-impact security issues. While the vulnerability has been mitigated, entities must follow best practices to ensure hardened systems.
For more granular details, organizations can consult the vendor’s update forums and associated CVE information:
Weakness
The root cause of CVE-2025-24989 stems from CWE-284: Improper Access Control, wherein developers fail to enforce adequate restrictions on sensitive system resources. Improper access control allows unauthorized individuals to escalate privileges, bypass intended security measures, and gain unauthorized access to administrative features or critical data. This inherent weakness facilitates an attacker’s ability to exploit vulnerable systems by subverting predefined permissions and controls, impacting the overall security posture of Microsoft Power Pages.
Impact Assessment
The consequences of CVE-2025-24989 being exploited are severe. Successful exploitation allows attackers to bypass the front-line user registration control to gain unauthorized administrative privileges. This breach could lead to:
- Unauthorized access to sensitive information on the affected site.
- Exfiltration of confidential data stored on Microsoft Power Pages platforms.
- Manipulation or deletion of data, potentially causing damage to user trust and brand credibility.
- Deployment of malicious payloads into the infrastructure for further exploitation following the initial compromise.
- Systemic compromise, whereby the affected instance could serve as a launch point for lateral attacks on other connected systems.
Organizations failing to apply mitigations risk severe implications that further ripple across their operational workflows, resulting in a tangible financial and reputational toll.
Active Exploitation
As of now, reports confirm no widespread exploitations, but due to the critical nature (CVSSv3: 9.8) of CVE-2025-24989, organizations must prioritize proactive defense mechanisms. Improper access control vulnerabilities are known to attract threat actor activity due to their capability to bypass traditional security defenses.
Microsoft has indicated that targeted campaigns utilizing improper access control vulnerabilities have grown in recent years, making it critical to scrutinize potential exploitation footprints across affected Power Pages instances.
Ransomware Association
Though currently, there is no direct evidence linking CVE-2025-24989 to ransomware families, elevation of privilege vulnerabilities such as this are often foundational stages for a ransomware attack chain. They could enable attackers to inject ransomware payloads across compromised systems post-privilege escalation. Historical cases highlight how improperly secured cloud service platforms like Power Pages may inadvertently facilitate ransomware delivery mechanisms.
Mitigation and Resolution
Microsoft has released a mitigation for CVE-2025-24989 and notified affected entities. They recommend that users:
- Apply the latest updates and patches to mitigate the vulnerability.
- Review hosted Microsoft Power Pages sites for anomalies or unauthorized privilege escalations.
- Follow cleanup steps provided by Microsoft to remediate potential exploitation.
- Implement stringent access control mechanisms within Power Pages deployments to minimize attack surfaces in the future.
Recommendations
- We strongly recommend that all customers apply the latest patch as soon as possible.
- Review Microsoft’s documentation on vulnerability updates and follow provided instructions for mitigation.
- Conduct a thorough audit of Microsoft Power Pages systems to identify unauthorized activity or exploitation indicators.
- Implement organization-wide policies to enforce strict IAM (Identity and Access Management) configurations.
- Proactively monitor network activities using endpoint detection solutions to flag anomalous behavior.
- Ensure regular updates of cloud environments to mitigate vulnerabilities over time.
- Deploy web application firewalls (WAF) or similar solutions to block unauthorized traffic.
References