CVE-2025-53722 is a vulnerability classified under CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) affecting Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1809, specifically the Remote Desktop Services (RDS) component. The vulnerability allows an unauthenticated attacker to send specially crafted requests over the network to the RDS, causing the system to consume excessive resources such as CPU, memory, or network bandwidth. This resource exhaustion can degrade system performance or cause the service to become unavailable, effectively resulting in a denial of service (DoS) attack. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5, indicating high severity, with an attack vector of network (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges required (PR:N), and no user interaction (UI:N). The scope is unchanged (S:U), and the impact affects availability only (A:H), with no impact on confidentiality or integrity. The vulnerability was reserved in early July 2025 and published in August 2025. No patches are currently linked, and no exploits have been reported in the wild. The lack of authentication and user interaction requirements means attackers can remotely trigger the resource exhaustion without prior access or user involvement. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous for exposed RDS endpoints. The vulnerability primarily threatens service availability, potentially disrupting business operations relying on remote desktop access.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to the availability of systems running Windows 10 Version 1809 with Remote Desktop Services enabled. Critical sectors such as finance, healthcare, government, and manufacturing that rely on remote desktop connectivity for operational continuity could face service outages, leading to operational disruption and potential financial losses. The denial of service could also impact remote workforce productivity, especially in organizations with widespread remote access policies. Since the vulnerability does not affect confidentiality or integrity, data breaches are unlikely directly from this flaw; however, service disruption could indirectly affect incident response and recovery capabilities. The absence of known exploits currently reduces immediate risk but also means organizations must be proactive in mitigation. European entities with legacy systems or delayed patching cycles are at higher risk. Additionally, the vulnerability could be leveraged as part of multi-stage attacks where denial of service is used to distract or disable defenses.

1. Immediately restrict network access to Remote Desktop Services using firewalls, VPNs, or network segmentation to limit exposure to untrusted networks. 2. Monitor network traffic and system resource usage on endpoints running Windows 10 Version 1809 for unusual spikes indicative of exploitation attempts. 3. Disable Remote Desktop Services on systems where it is not required to reduce the attack surface. 4. Prepare to deploy security patches promptly once Microsoft releases them; establish a rapid patch management process for affected systems. 5. Implement rate limiting or connection throttling on Remote Desktop Services to mitigate potential resource exhaustion. 6. Use intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) with updated signatures to detect anomalous RDS traffic patterns. 7. Educate IT staff about this vulnerability and ensure incident response plans include scenarios involving RDS denial of service. 8. Consider upgrading affected systems to newer Windows versions with active support and security updates to avoid legacy vulnerabilities.