CVE-2025-24049: Azure CLI Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

CVE-2025-24049 Overview

CVE-2025-24049 is a command injection vulnerability (CWE-77) in Microsoft Azure Command Line Integration (CLI) that allows an unauthorized attacker to elevate privileges locally. The vulnerability stems from improper neutralization of special elements used in commands, enabling attackers to inject and execute arbitrary commands with elevated privileges on the local system.

Critical Impact

Local privilege escalation through command injection in Azure CLI could allow attackers to gain elevated system access, potentially compromising cloud infrastructure credentials and sensitive Azure resources managed through the CLI.

Affected Products

• Microsoft Azure Command-line Interface (all versions prior to patch)

Discovery Timeline

• March 11, 2025 - CVE-2025-24049 published to NVD
• July 2, 2025 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-24049

Vulnerability Analysis

This command injection vulnerability affects the Azure Command Line Interface, Microsoft's cross-platform tool for managing Azure resources. The flaw exists in how the CLI processes user-supplied input, failing to properly sanitize special characters and command elements before passing them to the underlying shell.

Command injection vulnerabilities occur when an application constructs shell commands using unsanitized user input. In the context of Azure CLI, this could allow an attacker with local access to craft malicious input that, when processed by the CLI, executes arbitrary system commands with the privileges of the Azure CLI process.

The local attack vector means an attacker needs some form of access to the target system, but critically, no privileges are required to exploit this vulnerability. Successful exploitation could result in complete compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected system, potentially including access to Azure credentials and configurations stored locally.

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2025-24049 lies in improper input validation within the Azure CLI's command processing logic. When handling certain input parameters, the CLI fails to properly neutralize shell metacharacters such as backticks, semicolons, pipes, and other special characters that can be interpreted as command separators or operators by the underlying operating system shell.

This allows specially crafted input to break out of the intended command context and execute attacker-controlled commands. The vulnerability classification as CWE-77 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command) confirms this is a classic command injection pattern.

Attack Vector

The attack is performed locally, meaning an attacker must have some level of access to the system where Azure CLI is installed. The attacker can exploit this vulnerability by:

1. Identifying input parameters accepted by Azure CLI commands that are vulnerable to injection
2. Crafting malicious input containing shell metacharacters and injected commands
3. Executing the Azure CLI with the crafted input, causing the injected commands to run
4. Achieving privilege escalation or executing arbitrary code with elevated permissions

The vulnerability requires no user interaction and no prior privileges, making it particularly dangerous in multi-user environments or systems where Azure CLI is accessible to lower-privileged accounts. For detailed technical information, refer to the Microsoft Security Advisory.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-24049

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual Azure CLI process executions with suspicious command-line arguments containing shell metacharacters
• Unexpected child processes spawned by Azure CLI processes (az or related binaries)
• Azure CLI commands containing encoded or obfuscated payloads in parameters
• Audit log entries showing Azure CLI invocations followed by privilege escalation activities

Detection Strategies

• Monitor process execution logs for Azure CLI (az) commands with unusual characters such as semicolons, backticks, pipes, or encoded sequences in arguments
• Implement behavioral analysis to detect Azure CLI processes spawning unexpected child processes
• Deploy endpoint detection rules targeting command injection patterns in CLI tool invocations
• Review Azure CLI version information across endpoints to identify unpatched installations

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable command-line auditing on all systems with Azure CLI installed to capture full argument details
• Configure SIEM alerts for Azure CLI processes with suspicious command patterns or spawning shells
• Monitor for privilege escalation events occurring shortly after Azure CLI execution
• Track changes to Azure CLI configuration files and credential stores that may indicate post-exploitation activity

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-24049

Immediate Actions Required

• Update Azure CLI to the latest patched version immediately on all affected systems
• Audit systems to identify all Azure CLI installations and their current versions
• Restrict Azure CLI usage to authorized administrative accounts until patching is complete
• Review recent Azure CLI execution logs for signs of exploitation attempts

Patch Information

Microsoft has released a security update to address this vulnerability. Organizations should update Azure CLI to the latest available version through their standard package management tools (pip, package managers, or direct download). Detailed patch information and installation instructions are available in the Microsoft Security Response Center advisory.

For systems where immediate patching is not possible, implement the workarounds below to reduce risk exposure.

Workarounds

• Restrict Azure CLI execution permissions to only trusted administrative users
• Implement application allowlisting to control which accounts can execute Azure CLI
• Use Azure Cloud Shell as an alternative where possible, as it runs in a managed environment
• Deploy input validation at the orchestration layer if Azure CLI is called by automation scripts

# Verify Azure CLI version and update
az --version

# Update Azure CLI on Linux/macOS via pip
pip install --upgrade azure-cli

# Update Azure CLI on Windows via MSI
# Download latest installer from https://aka.ms/installazurecliwindows

# Restrict Azure CLI execution permissions (Linux example)
chmod 750 /usr/bin/az
chown root:azure-admins /usr/bin/az