CVE-2025-53726: Windows Push Notifications Type Confusion Vulnerability Allows Privilege Elevation

Overview

The cybersecurity landscape is continually evolving, with new vulnerabilities being discovered and exploited by attackers. One such vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-53726, poses a significant threat to the security of Windows systems. This vulnerability, which stems from the improper handling of resource types in Windows Push Notifications, can be used by attackers to elevate their privileges on a local system. With the potential to compromise systems or leak data, this vulnerability warrants serious concern and immediate attention from system administrators and security professionals.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-53726
Severity: High (CVSS: 7.8)
Attack Vector: Local
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: Required
Impact: System compromise, data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

Microsoft Windows | All versions prior to patch

How the Exploit Works

The exploit works by taking advantage of type confusion in Windows Push Notifications. Type confusion, also known as type safety, occurs when a piece of code doesn’t verify the type of object that is passed to it, and just blindly uses it without type-checking. In this instance, an attacker with local access to the machine can exploit this flaw to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges.

Conceptual Example Code

Here’s a conceptual example of how this vulnerability might be exploited. Note that this is a simplified and hypothetical example and does not represent an actual exploit.

#include <windows.h>
void exploit() {
// Create a new instance of a push notification
Notification* notification = new Notification();
// The attacker manipulates the notification to contain malicious code
// This is where the type confusion occurs - the notification is not supposed to contain code
notification->data = &malicious_code;
// The notification is sent to the system
// The system trusts the notification, as it's supposed to be a simple data type
// But now it executes the malicious code with elevated privileges
send_notification(notification);
}

In this example, the attacker creates a new push notification and injects malicious code into it. Since the system does not properly check the type of data contained in the notification, it executes the malicious code with elevated privileges when the notification is processed.
To mitigate this vulnerability, it is recommended to apply the latest vendor patch. If the patch cannot be applied immediately, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as a temporary mitigation measure.