Windows 10: Windows: Empty inetpub folder creates a new security problem

When Microsoft released the April 2025 security updates for Windows, users from all over the world started to notice that Microsoft's update created an empty folder in the main drive called inetpub.

This led to confusion, as Microsoft was tight lipped initially about the presence of the folder. The official release notes did not include any information about it. Shortly thereafter, Microsoft revealed that it created the folder on purpose to "increase protection". Users and administrators were encouraged to keep the folder and not tinker with it.

Background information: Microsoft created the folder as a direct response to CVE-2025–21204, which allows attackers to use symlinks to elevate privileges.

It turns out now that the creation of the folder may very well be used by cybercriminals for nefarious purposes.

Security researcher Kevin Beaumont shared information about the issue on Medium. Beaumont discovered that Microsoft's fix "introduced a denial of service vulnerability in the Windows servicing stack".

The details:

• Regular users may abuse the issue to stop all Windows security updates.
• It takes a single command to from a regular (non-elevated) prompt to abuse the issue.

All that is required is to create a new symbolic link between the inetpub folder and an application like notepad. Symbolic links do not require elevation, which means that attackers do not need to gain elevated access to a system to block future security updates on it.

Note: The command given by Beaumont on the website seems wrong as mklink /j is used to create junction links that link to a directory and not a file. Unless I'm missing something, it needs to either do away with /j to create a symbolic link or /h to create a hard link. Whether that is also going to block Windows updates is unclear though.

Once run, Windows security updates will no longer install on the target machine according to Beaumont. They will throw an error and roll back. Cybercriminals may use the hack to prevent future security update installs, which may fix security issues that they use to attack systems.

Beaumont says that the only way to resolve this issue is for Microsoft to fix it. He reported the issue to Microsoft but claims that Microsoft has not responded yet.

For this vulnerability to be exploited, cybercriminals need to gain regular access to a Windows machine. All common ways of protecting Windows apply to prevent this from happening, including making sure that Windows is up to date, not installing software from questionable sources, or allowing others to establish remote connections to the system.

Now You: what is your take on this? Would you say that Microsoft needs to be transparent when it comes to making these unannounced changes to Windows? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Thank you for being a Ghacks reader. The post Windows: Empty inetpub folder creates a new security problem appeared first on gHacks Technology News.

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creating new folder problem in windows 10 creator

Hi Gudiya,

The problem you've encountered in creating a folder could be caused by software or program conflict as the issue appeared a few days after installing the Windows 10 Creators update. For us to know if this only occurs when creating a new folder from the desktop,
we suggest that you try creating a new folder using a keyboard shortcut or from File Explorer. Please refer to the steps below:

Creating a new folder using a keyboard shortcut.

• Click on the desktop.
• Press CTRL + SHIFT + N.
• A new folder should be created.

Creating a new folder from File Explorer.

• Open File Explorer.
• Hover your mouse on the location where you want to create a new folder.
• Right-click it, go to New > Folder.

In case the problem persists, then we suggest that you go ahead and perform a clean boot. Doing so will start your computer using minimal drivers to help us determine what conflict is causing the problem. Check out
How to perform a clean boot in Windows for the detailed steps.

Let us know the result so we can further assist you.

Regards.

 

Inetpub folder

Hi Sverre,



Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.



I understand that you are facing issues on Windows 10. I apologize for the inconvenience caused to you.



To assist you better, please provide the information:

• When you say that "have the inetpub folder", where exactly are you searching for inetpub folder?
• When you say that "I have also tried to stop the process Service Host: Internet Information Services", why have you tried to disable the service host services?
• Are you connected to a domain network?

Reply to us with the information, so that we can assist you better.

Let us know if you need any further assistance on Windows related issues and we will be glad to help.

 

creating new folder problem in windows 10 creator

Thanks, the step you mentioned

Click on the desktop.

• Press CTRL + SHIFT + N.
• A new folder should be created.
• Creating a new folder using a keyboard shortcut.

It's working for me. But my new folder option is not working anywhere not in desktop as well as not in file explorer. Whenever I am placing my cursor on new folder option, its first spinning for few seconds then goes to close the file
explorer and refresh the desktop once.