Microsoft safety researchers have uncovered 4 important vulnerabilities in Home windows BitLocker that might permit attackers with bodily entry to bypass the encryption system and extract delicate knowledge.
The findings, revealed in analysis dubbed “BitUnlocker,” display refined assault strategies concentrating on the Home windows Restoration Atmosphere (WinRE) to avoid Microsoft’s flagship knowledge safety expertise.
Safety Flaws Goal Home windows Restoration Atmosphere
The vulnerabilities, found by Alon Leviev and Netanel Ben Simon from Microsoft’s Offensive Analysis & Safety Engineering (MORSE) group, exploit weaknesses in how WinRE processes exterior recordsdata and configurations.
The researchers recognized 4 distinct assault vectors that permit unauthorized entry to BitLocker-protected programs:
- CVE-2025-48800 allows attackers to bypass WIM (Home windows Imaging Format) validation by manipulating the Boot.sdi file’s offset pointer, inflicting the system as well an untrusted restoration atmosphere whereas validating a trusted one.
- CVE-2025-48003 exploits ReAgent.xml parsing to schedule malicious operations, together with launching tttracer.exe to execute command prompts with full system entry.
- CVE-2025-48804 leverages WinRE app belief validation by using the pre-registered SetupPlatform.exe to realize persistent command-line entry by way of keyboard shortcuts.
- CVE-2025-48818 targets BCD (Boot Configuration Knowledge) parsing to redirect WinRE’s goal OS location, enabling Push Button Reset exploitation to decrypt BitLocker volumes.
The analysis reveals that WinRE, designed as a restoration platform for important system points, inadvertently creates an assault floor when parsing configuration recordsdata from unprotected volumes.
Attackers can manipulate these exterior recordsdata to realize elevated privileges and entry encrypted knowledge with out triggering BitLocker’s normal safety mechanisms.
Microsoft Responds with July 2025 Safety Patches
Microsoft addressed all 4 vulnerabilities as a part of its July 2025 Patch Tuesday launch, issuing complete safety updates throughout affected Home windows variations.
The patches goal Home windows 10 (variations 1607, 21H2, 22H2), Home windows 11 (variations 22H2, 23H2, 24H2), and Home windows Server editions (2016, 2022, 2025).
Safety updates KB5062552, KB5062553, KB5062554, and KB5062560 particularly tackle the BitLocker vulnerabilities, with organizations urged to prioritize fast deployment.
The vulnerabilities carry CVSS scores starting from 6.8 to eight.1, with Microsoft assessing exploitation as “extra possible” for a number of of the issues.
The analysis group’s findings had been scheduled for presentation at Black Hat USA 2025 in Las Vegas, highlighting the importance of the discoveries inside the cybersecurity neighborhood.
The presentation, titled “BitUnlocker: Leveraging Home windows Restoration to Extract BitLocker Secrets and techniques,” demonstrates the researchers’ complete evaluation of WinRE’s safety structure and assault methodologies.
Enhanced Safety Methods and Trade Impression
Past making use of the safety patches, Microsoft recommends implementing further BitLocker countermeasures to strengthen safety towards bodily assaults.
Organizations ought to allow TPM+PIN for pre-boot authentication, which provides an extra authentication layer earlier than the system boots, considerably lowering the chance of bodily bypass makes an attempt.
Microsoft additionally advises enabling the REVISE mitigation for anti-rollback safety, which prevents attackers from downgrading to susceptible system states.
These enhanced protections work together with the safety patches to offer complete protection towards the recognized assault vectors.
The discoveries underscore the significance of defense-in-depth methods for knowledge safety, significantly in situations involving bodily gadget entry.
Whereas BitLocker stays a sturdy encryption resolution, the analysis demonstrates that even refined safety programs require steady analysis and enchancment to handle rising risk vectors.
The BitUnlocker analysis represents a big contribution to understanding encryption bypass strategies and reinforces the important position of inner safety analysis groups in figuring out and addressing vulnerabilities earlier than they are often exploited maliciously.
Organizations counting on BitLocker for knowledge safety ought to prioritize making use of the July 2025 safety updates whereas implementing the beneficial further safety measures to take care of sturdy safety towards bodily assaults.
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