CVE-2025-6250 is a high-severity vulnerability affecting BeyondTrust Privilege Management for Windows versions prior to 25.4.270.0. The vulnerability arises from improper handling of elevated processes, specifically when the Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (wmic.exe) is executed with a full administrative token. Under these conditions, a user with elevated privileges can stop the Defendpoint service, which is protected by anti-tamper mechanisms designed to prevent unauthorized modifications. By stopping this service, the attacker effectively bypasses these protections. Once the Defendpoint service is disabled, the attacker can escalate privileges by adding themselves to the local Administrators group, thereby gaining the ability to run any process with elevated permissions. This vulnerability is classified under CWE-424 (Improper Protection of Privileges), indicating a failure to adequately protect privileged operations. The CVSS v4.0 score of 7.1 reflects a high severity, with the vector indicating that the attack requires local access (AV:L), low attack complexity (AC:L), privileges required are high (PR:H), no user interaction (UI:N), and results in high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (VC:H/VI:H/VA:H). There are no known exploits in the wild at the time of publication, and no patches have been linked yet. The vulnerability affects the core functionality of privilege management, potentially allowing malicious insiders or compromised accounts with elevated privileges to gain full administrative control over affected systems.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a significant risk, particularly in environments where BeyondTrust Privilege Management for Windows is deployed to enforce least privilege policies and protect critical endpoints. Successful exploitation can lead to full administrative compromise of affected systems, undermining endpoint security controls and potentially allowing lateral movement, data exfiltration, or deployment of ransomware. Given the role of Defendpoint service in anti-tamper protection, disabling it weakens the security posture, increasing the risk of persistent threats. Organizations in sectors with strict regulatory requirements such as finance, healthcare, and critical infrastructure could face compliance violations and reputational damage if exploited. The local attack vector means that insider threats or attackers who have already gained some level of access can escalate privileges easily, making internal security monitoring and access controls crucial. The absence of known exploits in the wild suggests a window for proactive mitigation before widespread attacks occur.

European organizations should prioritize upgrading BeyondTrust Privilege Management for Windows to version 25.4.270.0 or later as soon as the patch becomes available. Until then, organizations should implement strict access controls to limit who can execute wmic.exe with elevated tokens, potentially using application whitelisting or endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions to monitor and block suspicious attempts to stop the Defendpoint service. Audit logs should be reviewed regularly for any attempts to stop critical services or modify local group memberships. Network segmentation and the principle of least privilege should be enforced to reduce the risk of lateral movement if an account is compromised. Additionally, organizations should consider deploying behavioral analytics to detect anomalous privilege escalation activities. Since the vulnerability requires high privileges and local access, strengthening endpoint security policies and user training to prevent credential misuse is also recommended. Finally, maintain up-to-date backups and incident response plans to quickly recover from potential compromises.