Microsoft says the August 2025 security updates are triggering unexpected User Account Control (UAC) prompts and app installation issues for non-admin users across all supported Windows versions.
This known issue is caused by a security patch that addresses the CVE-2025-50173 Windows Installer privilege escalation vulnerability, which can allow authenticated attackers to gain SYSTEM privileges due to a weak authentication issue.
To address this security vulnerability, Microsoft has implemented new User Account Control (UAC) prompts that request admin credentials in various situations to prevent potential attackers from escalating permissions. Some scenarios in which these prompts may appear include running MSI repair commands (such as `msiexec /fu`), installing applications that configure themselves for individual users, and executing Windows Installer during Active Setup.
Additionally, this change can hinder standard users from deploying packages through Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr) that depend on user-specific “advertising” configurations, from enabling Secure Desktop, and when launching Autodesk applications, including specific versions of AutoCAD, Civil 3D, and Inventor CAM.
The complete list of affected platforms is extensive, and it includes both client and server platforms:
- Client: Windows 11, version 24H2; Windows 11, version 23H2; Windows 11, version 22H2; Windows 10, version 22H2; Windows 10, version 21H2; Windows 10, version 1809; Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019; Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2016; Windows 10, version 1607; Windows 10 Enterprise 2015 LTSB
- Server: Windows Server 2025; Windows Server 2022; Windows Server, version 1809; Windows Server 2019; Windows Server 2016; Windows Server 2012 R2; Windows Server 2012
“A security improvement was included in the August 2025 Windows security update (KB5063878) and later updates to enforce the requirement that User Account Control (UAC) prompt for administrator credentials when performing Windows Installer (MSI) repair and related operations,” the company explained in a Windows release health dashboard update on Wednesday.
“If a standard user runs an app that initiates an MSI repair operation without displaying UI, it will fail with an error message. For example, installing and running Office Professional Plus 2010 as a standard user will fail with Error 1730 during the configuration process.”
Microsoft is working to address this known issue by allowing IT admins to enable specific apps to perform MSI repair operations without requiring UAC prompts, a fix that will be released with an upcoming Windows update.
Temporary workaround available
Until a fix starts rolling out, as a temporary workaround, Microsoft advises users to run apps that use Windows Installer (MSI) as an administrator. To do this, open the Start menu or Search results, right-click the app, and select the ‘Run as administrator’ option.
Those who can’t run apps as admins can request their IT admins to mitigate the issue by installing and configuring a special Group Policy using Known Issue Rollback (KIR) on the following Windows versions after reaching out to Microsoft’s business support team:
- Windows 11, versions 22H2, 23H2, 24H2
- Windows Server 2025
- Windows Server 2022
- Windows 10, versions 21H2, 22H2
Microsoft is also working to resolve another bug caused by the August 2025 security updates, which are causing severe lag and stuttering issues with NDI streaming software on Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems.
Additionally, the company stated last week that it found no connection between the August 2025 KB5063878 security update and reports of failure and data corruption issues impacting solid-state drives (SSDs) and hard disk drives (HDDs).
46% of environments had passwords cracked, nearly doubling from 25% last year.
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