The month-to-month report is comparatively light-weight, with some cellular updates or fixes which have already been carried out server-side and shouldn’t be a priority to admins, stated Tyler Reguly, affiliate director of safety R&D at international cybersecurity software program and companies supplier Fortra. One other vulnerability impacts solely Microsoft Floor {hardware}.

February replace patches two exploited vulnerabilities

The 2 exploited vulnerabilities are:

  • CVE-2025-21391, a Home windows storage flaw that would let a menace actor delete recordsdata.
  • CVE-2025-21418, a gap for privilege escalation starting in Home windows Ancillary Operate Driver for WinSock.

“Whereas each vulnerabilities are rated Essential by Microsoft and have CVSS scores within the 7.x vary, I’d deal with the Home windows AFD for WinSock vulnerability as essential with regards to patching, provided that it has seen lively exploitation,” Reguly stated in an electronic mail to TechRepublic.

Vulnerabilities have been discovered within the Home windows Ancillary Operate Driver for WinSock 9 instances since 2022, together with situations attributed to a North Korea-sponsored superior persistent menace group, Tenable senior employees analysis engineer Satnam Narang identified in a remark to KrebsonSecurity.

“The basis trigger is inadequate validation of user-supplied enter, permitting low-privileged customers to ship specifically crafted knowledge that overflows the buffer,” wrote Mike Walters, president and co-founder of patch administration firm Action1 in a weblog publish.

No person interplay is required to patch both of the exploited vulnerabilities.

CVE-2025-21391, the zero-day Home windows storage flaw, stems from the best way Home windows resolves file paths and follows hyperlinks, Walters stated. File deletion is just the start of the issues it might trigger, because it might result in privilege escalation, undesirable entry to safety logs or configurations, malware injection, knowledge manipulation, or different assaults.

“With a CVSS rating of seven.1, the CVSS metrics define that this vulnerability doesn’t have an effect on confidentiality, so no delicate knowledge could be accessed,” stated Kev Breen, senior director of menace analysis at cybersecurity platform maker Immersive, in an electronic mail to TechRepublic. “Nonetheless, it may possibly severely have an effect on knowledge integrity and availability.”

One vulnerability scores CVSS 9.0

The very best CVSS rating addressed within the February patch pack is CVE-2025-21198, rated at 9.0. This CVE might let a menace actor carry out a distant assault towards a Linux agent in Excessive Efficiency Computing clusters. Nonetheless, it solely works if the attacker already has entry to the community the cluster is hooked up to.

“This networking requirement ought to restrict the influence of what would in any other case be a extra critical vulnerability,” Reguly stated.

SEE: Microsoft PowerToys now contains Sysinternals’ ZoomIT, a display recording instrument meant for technical shows.

Microsoft patches spoofing bug affecting all shopper and server variations

CVE-2025-21377 was already publicly disclosed, however the patch is rolling out immediately. With this vulnerability a menace actor might reveal a person’s NTLMv2 hash, letting the attacker spoof the person’s identification. Walters stated any group utilizing Home windows programs that don’t solely depend on Kerberos for authentication is in danger.

CVE-2025-21377 is “one other CVE to patch sooner relatively than later,” Breen stated.

Lastly, Ben McCarthy, lead cybersecurity engineer at Immersive, identified CVE-2025-21381, a vulnerability permitting for distant code execution in Excel.

“Excel vulnerabilities are significantly harmful as a result of Excel macros and embedded scripts have traditionally been a serious assault vector for APT teams, ransomware operators, and monetary fraud campaigns, typically bypassing conventional safety defenses,” McCarthy stated.

Different main patches throughout manufacturers

As Walters identified, Chrome 131 landed just lately, bringing patches for a number of reminiscence vulnerabilities. Not one of the vulnerabilities Google recognized have been exploited. Apple has additionally began rolling out iOS 18.3.1, which features a repair for a bodily assault which will have been exploited towards particular people. Ivanti advisable admins to observe for updates from Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge this week.

“Browsers are a first-rate goal for attackers to focus on customers,” IT software program firm Ivanti’s vice chairman of product administration for safety merchandise Chris Goettl wrote in a weblog publish. “Whereas together with browsers in your month-to-month replace course of is advisable, it leaves a number of CVEs uncovered in between cycles. It’s advisable to maneuver browsers to a weekly Precedence Updates cadence.”

Final however not least, Adobe launched updates for InDesign, Photoshop Parts, Illustrator, and extra.