Microsoft has assigned CVE‑2025‑60722 to an elevation of privilege vulnerability affecting OneDrive for Android; the vendor entry in Microsoft’s Security Update Guide confirms the record while public technical details remain sparse, leaving security teams to treat the issue as a priority for investigation and remediation.
OneDrive for Android is a widely deployed cloud‑storage client used by millions of consumers and enterprise users to sync documents, photos, and business files between Android devices and Microsoft 365 services. Mobile clients like OneDrive often expose numerous platform integration points—file system access, inter‑app intents, content providers, background services and native libraries—that expand the attack surface compared with a pure web client.
Microsoft’s Update Guide entry for CVE‑2025‑60722 classifies the issue as an elevation‑of‑privilege (EoP) vulnerability in the OneDrive Android app; that classification alone signals the potential for a lower‑privilege actor (for example, a regular app or a local, unauthorised user) to gain greater capabilities on an affected device or within the app’s own trust boundary. The Microsoft entry is the authoritative record that maps the CVE identifier to the vendor advisory. Independent vulnerability aggregators and lookup services have indexed the CVE record (one such multi‑source tracker lists CVE‑2025‑60722 among recent vulnerability identifiers), which corroborates that the CVE was allocated and recorded beyond Microsoft’s portal; however, these third‑party pages do not provide a detailed technical write‑up beyond the identification and classification. Where multiple trackers show only a short vendor summary, that generally indicates the vendor-controlled disclosure model is still in effect (minimal technical detail prior to or concurrent with patch distribution).
However, the short advisory also forces defenders to:
Note on verification: Microsoft’s Update Guide entry is the canonical vendor record for CVE‑2025‑60722; independent indexing by vulnerability‑lookup services corroborates the CVE allocation but does not expand the technical content. Where public technical details are absent, this article avoids speculative attribution of an exploitation technique and instead presents prioritized defensive actions informed by common Android EoP patterns and past OneDrive advisories.
Source: MSRC Security Update Guide - Microsoft Security Response Center
Background
OneDrive for Android is a widely deployed cloud‑storage client used by millions of consumers and enterprise users to sync documents, photos, and business files between Android devices and Microsoft 365 services. Mobile clients like OneDrive often expose numerous platform integration points—file system access, inter‑app intents, content providers, background services and native libraries—that expand the attack surface compared with a pure web client.Microsoft’s Update Guide entry for CVE‑2025‑60722 classifies the issue as an elevation‑of‑privilege (EoP) vulnerability in the OneDrive Android app; that classification alone signals the potential for a lower‑privilege actor (for example, a regular app or a local, unauthorised user) to gain greater capabilities on an affected device or within the app’s own trust boundary. The Microsoft entry is the authoritative record that maps the CVE identifier to the vendor advisory. Independent vulnerability aggregators and lookup services have indexed the CVE record (one such multi‑source tracker lists CVE‑2025‑60722 among recent vulnerability identifiers), which corroborates that the CVE was allocated and recorded beyond Microsoft’s portal; however, these third‑party pages do not provide a detailed technical write‑up beyond the identification and classification. Where multiple trackers show only a short vendor summary, that generally indicates the vendor-controlled disclosure model is still in effect (minimal technical detail prior to or concurrent with patch distribution).
Why this matters: the stakes of elevation‑of‑privilege on mobile
Elevation‑of‑privilege bugs on Android have outsized impact because of two converging facts: (1) mobile devices consolidate many identities, tokens and private data (personal documents, corporate data, authentication cookies), and (2) mobile apps often run with broader granted capabilities (access to external storage, pairings with system services, access to account tokens) that can be abused if an app’s internal authorization checks are bypassed.- User data exposure: OneDrive stores and indexes user files; an attacker who elevates privileges in the OneDrive process could access synced documents, cached credentials, or cached thumbnails that contain sensitive data.
- Token theft and lateral movement: OneDrive is integrated with Microsoft Accounts and Azure AD flows; privileged access inside the OneDrive client could expose access tokens or refresh tokens that permit further cloud access.
- Persistence and pivoting: Elevated privileges in a foreground app may permit the attacker to install or configure background components, place persistent data in locations that survive reboots, or manipulate synchronization processes to exfiltrate data stealthily.
What Microsoft published (and what it did not)
Microsoft’s Update Guide page for CVE‑2025‑60722 is the vendor record that confirms the vulnerability identifier, the affected component (OneDrive for Android), and the classification as an elevation‑of‑privilege issue. At the time of publication, Microsoft’s public entry contains only the standard, concise advisory metadata and does not include a public exploit demonstration, full technical root‑cause, or an expansive write‑up. That limited public disclosure is consistent with responsible‑disclosure practice when a fix or rollout is in progress, but it means defenders must act on the available mapping and vendor instructions rather than relying on detailed exploit analysis. Independent trackers that index Microsoft’s feed reflect the CVE allocation but do not expand with proof‑of‑concept details; this corroboration provides confidence the entry is real but does not change the operational posture: treat the vulnerability as confirmed by Microsoft, but plan response actions against unknown‑exploit conditions until more telemetry or technical analysis becomes available. Caveat (important): when a vendor record is terse, two practical realities typically follow:- The vendor either has already shipped a fix or is preparing staged updates (so immediately check for app updates).
- Public technical details may be withheld to limit exploit development while patches are deployed; that reduces opportunistic exploitation risk but increases urgency for rapid patching.
Technical analysis — likely root causes and realistic attack vectors
Microsoft’s short advisory does not publish exploit code or a specific root cause; to provide practical analysis we draw on common patterns in Android app EoP issues and real precedents in OneDrive and comparable sync clients. The following are plausible technical causes and attack chains that match the EoP classification:- Improper authorization in exported components: Android apps can expose Activities, Services, BroadcastReceivers and ContentProviders to other apps. If a component is exported without correct permission checks, a malicious app can call into privileged code paths and trigger operations the caller should not be allowed to perform.
- Insecure intent handling or intent injection: If the app accepts Intents with unvalidated extras and acts on them in privileged contexts (for example, invoking privileged synchronization workflows), this can be abused to escalate privileges.
- Unsafe file handling or race conditions: Sync clients frequently read and write files on behalf of the user. A race condition or improper ownership check on files (for instance, assuming file ownership or following a symlink) can allow a low‑privilege process to trick the sync client into performing privileged file operations.
- Native library issues or JNI misuse: Many mobile clients ship native code for performance; native memory bugs, incorrect privilege checks in JNI boundary code, or mishandled capabilities can lead to privilege escalation.
- Token/credential storage flaws: If the app incorrectly stores tokens in locations accessible to other applications, elevation inside the app could enable token theft to leverage cloud resources.
Verification and cross‑checking: what defenders should confirm now
- Confirm the vendor mapping in the Microsoft Security Update Guide for CVE‑2025‑60722 and check whether Microsoft published associated KBs, staged updates, or Play Store releases. Microsoft’s Update Guide is the source of record for affected versions and vendor remediation guidance.
- Check third‑party vulnerability trackers and your threat‑intelligence feeds for corroboration (they can show mirrored CVE entries and sightings but often duplicate the vendor text without additional technical details). Use these as supporting signals only.
- Inventory devices: identify Android devices in your estate that are running OneDrive and verify the OneDrive app version and Android security patch level. If your organization manages devices with MDM (Intune, Jamf, MobileIron etc., query the app version field from your MDM console and target remediation accordingly.
- Seek out vendor update notes in the Google Play Console / Play Store listing for OneDrive and in enterprise update feeds; vendors commonly ship app updates through the Play Store or via managed Google Play for enterprise deployments.
Immediate mitigation steps (short checklist)
- Update OneDrive on Android immediately if a Play Store update has been issued. Force‑update or schedule a managed rollout through your MDM/EMM platform. Prioritize devices with corporate or sensitive data.
- Ensure Android platform security patches are current. Many privilege escalations interact with platform weaknesses; maintaining up‑to‑date Android security patch levels reduces overall risk.
- For managed fleets, use app allow‑lists and restrict which apps can be installed. Block sideloading where possible to reduce chances an attacker can install a malicious helper app used to trigger or amplify an exploit.
- Restrict OneDrive permissions where practical: limit access to contacts and avoid granting more permissions than the app requires for core functionality; however, do this carefully — revoking core permissions may break user workflows.
- Temporarily limit the use of OneDrive on high‑risk devices (BYOD endpoints with unknown hygiene) and require corporate devices to be fully patched before re‑enabling data sync.
- Monitor telemetry for suspicious local inter‑process activity related to OneDrive: unexpected uses of exported components, anomalous file creation in OneDrive folders, unexpected network traffic to non‑Microsoft endpoints, or unusual token refresh events.
Detection and hunting: what to look for
Because a concrete exploit or PoC has not been published widely, hunting must focus on behavior that indicates exploitation attempts or successful privilege escalation:- Unusual calls to exported components: Detect other apps invoking OneDrive’s exported Activities, Services, or ContentProviders, particularly if the calling package is not expected. Instrument or query Android accessibility logs and EDR telemetry for cross‑app calls.
- Unexpected file operations: Monitor OneDrive‑owned directories for unexpected writes/deletes that could indicate abuse (for example, scripted file modifications by a malicious agent).
- Token and account anomalies: Watch for abnormal token refresh patterns or authentication events from devices that aren’t known or are exhibiting other suspicious behaviors.
- Process crashes and restarts: Privilege escalation attempts sometimes cause crashes or memory corruption; track recent OneDrive crashes, followed by service restarts or privilege changes.
- Unusual network destinations: Egress to unknown servers or IP addresses immediately after suspected local abuse may indicate exfiltration.
Enterprise response playbook (recommended sequence)
- Triage: Identify the subset of devices running OneDrive for Android in your organization and prioritize high‑value users (executives, finance, developers).
- Patch: Push the vendor update via MDM or instruct users to update via managed Google Play immediately when an update is available. Validate app version rollouts across device groups.
- Harden: Enforce app‑installation policies, restrict sideloading, and apply least‑privilege device profiles.
- Hunt: Run the detection checks above across EDR and SIEM; focus on exported component calls, token refresh anomalies, OneDrive crashes, and suspicious file events.
- Forensics: If an incident is suspected, collect full device artifacts and work with Microsoft or external DFIR vendors for root‑cause analysis.
- Communicate: Notify impacted users and leadership with clear remediation instructions. For breaches that involve token theft or data exfiltration, escalate through your incident‑response process and consider rotating credentials and session tokens associated with affected accounts.
Risk assessment and prioritization
- Confidence in the existence of the CVE: High — Microsoft published a vendor advisory and assigned a CVE ID.
- Public technical detail: Low — the advisory contains limited technical detail; third‑party trackers mirror the allocation but add no additional exploit information.
- Exploit in the wild: Unknown / Unverified — at the time of this writing there is no widely published proof‑of‑concept or public indicator of active exploitation. Treat this as potentially exploitable rather than confirmed as being actively abused. (If later telemetry appears indicating active exploitation, reprioritize to emergency response.
Why some vendor advisories are intentionally brief (and what that means for admins)
Vendors often limit public technical detail around EoP vulnerabilities when a fix is being rolled out. The rationale is simple: full exploit disclosure before broad patch uptake increases the chance of mass exploitation. This is consistent with responsible‑disclosure and coordinated‑release practices used across the industry.However, the short advisory also forces defenders to:
- Move on vendor signals and patch mapping (MSRC → KB → Play Store release).
- Assume the worst‑case impact for planning and hunting until technical details are available.
- Communicate clearly with end‑users and device owners to ensure timely patching.
Longer‑term lessons and hardening recommendations
- Reduce trust in single client components: design data flows so that a compromise of a single client cannot trivially yield service‑wide token exfiltration. Use conditional access controls and short token lifetimes where possible.
- Strengthen token storage: favor platform‑protected storage (Android Keystore) for long‑lived secrets and refresh tokens; avoid persistent tokens in app‑accessible files.
- App‑component hygiene: review and harden exported components, permissions, intent filters, and content providers across enterprise‑managed mobile apps.
- Managed app catalogs: distribute corporate OneDrive instances through managed Google Play and MDM policies so app updates and security configuration can be centrally enforced.
- Monitoring and telemetry: instrument mobile device telemetry for inter‑app calls, unusual permission changes and OneDrive process anomalies; feed these signals into SIEM/EDR for cross‑device correlation.
Final assessment and next steps
CVE‑2025‑60722 is a confirmed vendor‑assigned elevation‑of‑privilege entry for OneDrive for Android in Microsoft’s Update Guide. The advisory confirms the vulnerability exists and should be treated seriously, but Microsoft has not published a granular technical analysis or an exploit proof at the time of recording; third‑party trackers echo the entry but add no additional exploit detail. Defenders should respond to the vendor record now: verify affected app versions across their fleets, prioritize and deploy available OneDrive updates via managed channels, ensure Android platform security patches are current, and implement the monitoring and mitigation steps outlined above. If your environment hosts high‑value accounts, confidential data, or large fleets of Android devices, escalate CVE‑2025‑60722 to Incident Response and Mobile Device Management owners as a high‑priority remediation item. Maintain conservative assumptions while public technical details remain scarce, and prepare to pivot your response if Microsoft or independent researchers publish deeper technical analysis or indicators of active exploitation.Note on verification: Microsoft’s Update Guide entry is the canonical vendor record for CVE‑2025‑60722; independent indexing by vulnerability‑lookup services corroborates the CVE allocation but does not expand the technical content. Where public technical details are absent, this article avoids speculative attribution of an exploitation technique and instead presents prioritized defensive actions informed by common Android EoP patterns and past OneDrive advisories.
Source: MSRC Security Update Guide - Microsoft Security Response Center
