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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Gain low-privileged local/guest code execution
  2. Delivery
    Send crafted IOCTLs to kernel-mode driver
  3. Exploit
    Trigger use-after-free on freed kernel object
  4. Execution
    Reclaim/groom freed allocation
  5. Persist
    Hijack kernel control flow
  6. Impact
    Escalate to SYSTEM or crash host

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Memory lifecycle management
MITRE ATT&CK

2 techniques across 2 tactics: Execution, Privilege Escalation

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Exploitation Conditions

Requires local code execution on a Windows host that has the affected NVIDIA GPU Display Driver (GeForce, RTX/Quadro/NVS, or Tesla branches) installed, plus a low-privileged account or sandboxed process able to open a handle to and issue calls against the kernel-mode driver interface. Per the CPE and tags, the vGPU/Guest Driver and Virtual GPU Manager components are also in scope, so a guest in a virtual-GPU deployment could target the kernel layer. Limiting factors: no remote vector (AV:L - must already be on the machine), and PR:L authentication is needed; there is no user interaction requirement (UI:N) and complexity is low (AC:L), so once local access exists the barrier is small. Hosts without an NVIDIA GPU/driver installed are unaffected.

Impact

This is a genuine, actionable local privilege-escalation risk rather than an inflated high-CVSS score. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H = 7.8) is internally consistent with the CWE-416 use-after-free in the kernel-mode layer of the NVIDIA GPU Display Driver: a UAF in ring-0 code plausibly yields full C:H/I:H/A:H because arbitrary kernel memory corruption can escalate to SYSTEM. The local attack vector (AV:L) and required low privileges (PR:L) mean this is a post-compromise escalation primitive, not a remotely reachable flaw, which correctly moderates the score into the High (not Critical) band. No EPSS score, KEV listing, or public PoC was provided in the input, so exploitation status is 'no public exploit identified at time of analysis.' The absence of KEV/EPSS/PoC signals is consistent with a vendor-reported (NVIDIA product-security) memory-corruption bug patched proactively rather than one under active attack. Kernel UAFs are historically weaponizable by skilled attackers, so the practical risk is meaningful for multi-user or sandbox-escape scenarios even without confirmed exploitation. Note the description also lists 'code execution' and 'information disclosure' as possible impacts; the CVSS treats these as the local-scope C/I/A:H outcome (S:U), meaning impact stays within the compromised OS rather than crossing a security boundary to another system.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

A low-privileged local user (or code running in a sandbox/guest) on a Windows machine with the affected NVIDIA driver installed issues crafted IOCTLs/API calls to the kernel-mode driver to trigger a use-after-free, then grooms the freed kernel allocation to hijack control flow or corrupt kernel structures. Successful exploitation escalates to SYSTEM, enables kernel code execution, or crashes the host (DoS). No public exploit code was identified in the provided data, and no user interaction is required (UI:N).

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).
No patch listed yet 0.2% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Sep 30, 2026

Local privilege escalation in the NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows allows a low-privileged local user - or a sandboxed process or guest with access to the driver interface - to trigger a use-after-free in the kernel-mode layer, potentially achieving kernel code execution, privilege escalation, denial of service, information disclosure, or data tampering. The assessed vector (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) means the attacker must already have code running on a host with an affected NVIDIA driver installed, but needs no user interaction and faces low complexity once local access exists; per the affected CPEs, the GeForce, RTX/Quadro/NVS, and Tesla branches are in scope, and the associated Guest Driver and Virtual GPU Manager tags mean a virtual-GPU guest may also be able to reach the kernel layer. No public exploit code or confirmed active exploitation was identified at the time of analysis, and hosts without an NVIDIA GPU/driver installed are unaffected.

RemediationAI

Patch status: the input data references NVIDIA's product-security bulletin (https://github.com/NVIDIA/product-security/tree/main/2026/5861) but does not specify an exact fixed driver version, so no patched version number is asserted here - consult that advisory and NVIDIA's driver download portal to identify and install the corrected Windows display driver for the applicable branch (GeForce, RTX/Quadro/NVS, or Tesla), then verify the installed driver version matches the advisory's fixed release and reboot to load the new kernel-mode driver. Because the flaw requires local access and code execution already running on the host, prioritize patching multi-user systems, VDI/vGPU hosts, and any machine where untrusted users or workloads share the GPU. Compensating controls while patching, with trade-offs: for vGPU deployments, stop assigning vGPU profiles or GPU passthrough to untrusted guests or move untrusted workloads to non-GPU VMs (side effect: loss of GPU acceleration for those guests, and existing profiles must be reconfigured); on shared workstations, restrict interactive or remote logon to fully trusted users and block sandboxed/untrusted applications from running on GPU-enabled endpoints (side effect: reduced usability for legitimate multi-user or developer scenarios); keep the driver updated to the latest branch release even if it precedes the advisory fix, as driver hardening often removes adjacent memory-safety bugs. There is no configuration switch that disables the kernel-mode driver while retaining GPU function, so a software-only workaround is not practical; detection should focus on unusual kernel driver interaction (repeated TDR/GPU crash events in the Windows event log) followed by unexpected SYSTEM-level process creation, which are the observable precursors and post-exploitation indicators for this class of local privilege-escalation bug.

Affected VersionsENISA

Guest driver 596.36(All versions prior to and including vGPU 20.1)
RTX, Quadro, NVS All driver versions prior to 596.86
RTX, Quadro, NVS All driver versions prior to 610.88
Virtual GPU Manager 582.51(All versions prior to and including vGPU 19.5)
Virtual GPU Manager 596.38(All versions prior to and including vGPU 20.1)
Tesla All driver versions prior to 610.88
RTX, Quadro, NVS All driver versions prior to 582.78
GeForce All driver versions prior to 616.56
GeForce All driver versions prior to 582.78 Only GPUs based on the NVIDIA Maxwell, Volta, and Pascal GPU architectures are affected.
GeForce All driver versions prior to 610.60
Tesla All driver versions prior to 616.92
Guest driver 582.53(All versions prior to and including vGPU 19.5)
Tesla All driver versions prior to 596.86
RTX, Quadro, NVS All driver versions prior to 616.92

Affected Packages

euvd geforce_all_driver_versions_prior_to no fix
euvd rtx_quadro_nvs_all_driver_versions_prior_to no fix
euvd tesla_all_driver_versions_prior_to no fix

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 3 packages in euvd

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

The flaw is a use-after-free (CWE-416) in the kernel-mode layer of the NVIDIA Windows GPU display driver stack. In this architecture, user-mode graphics, CUDA, and management APIs communicate with a kernel-mode driver component through device handles and I/O control requests; the kernel layer owns GPU object lifetimes, memory allocations, and mapping bookkeeping. A use-after-free occurs when an object is released while a stale reference remains, and attacker-influenced operations or racing calls then dereference the freed memory - a class that in kernel context commonly yields arbitrary write/read primitives, pool corruption, or a reliable bugcheck (DoS). Because the defect lives in the kernel-mode interface rather than a user-mode library, any local principal that can open the driver's device interface and issue valid requests - including a compromised browser/process or a guest in a vGPU deployment, given the Guest Driver and Virtual GPU Manager tags and the CPE families listed (GeForce, RTX/Quadro/NVS, Tesla) - is a candidate trigger. All version ranges are wildcarded in the CPE data, so the exact vulnerable driver branches are not enumerated here and must be confirmed against NVIDIA's bulletin.

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Severity by source

Vendor (nvidia) PRIMARY 7.8 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
vuln.today AI 7.8 HIGH

Kernel-mode UAF exploitable by an authenticated local low-priv user (AV:L/PR:L) with no interaction; kernel compromise yields full local C/I/A:H, scope unchanged.

3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Red Hat 7.8 HIGH

Primary rating from Vendor (nvidia).

CVSS VectorVendor: nvidia

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

DescriptionCVE.org

NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows contains a vulnerability in the kernel mode layer where an attacker could cause a use-after-free. A successful exploit of this vulnerability might lead to code execution, denial of service, or escalation of privileges, information disclosure, and data tampering.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

A high-severity flaw in the NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows lets any user or process already running on an affected machine escalate to kernel-level control of the operating system. Because the driver ships with GeForce, RTX/Quadro/NVS, and Tesla products - and can be reached from virtual-GPU guests - the exposure spans employee workstations, engineering and design fleets, VDI pools, and GPU-accelerated servers rather than a single niche system. Leadership should care because a successful attack converts limited local access into full host compromise, enabling data theft, tampering, or disruptive crashes, and NVIDIA has not yet released a fix, leaving the estate exposed until mitigation or patching is possible.

Business Impact: High
Compensating Controls

No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis; interim mitigations: restrict which users, services, and sandboxed or guest processes can reach the NVIDIA driver interface; enforce least privilege and remove local admin rights from non-essential accounts; isolate or avoid running untrusted workloads on hosts with the affected driver; segment and monitor GPU-enabled servers and VDI hosts for anomalous kernel activity, crashes, or privilege escalation; track NVIDIA/OEM advisories for an exact fix version and apply immediately upon release.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.2%
Top 93% exploitable
Prevalence
High
NVIDIA GeForce/RTX/Quadro/Tesla drivers ship on a huge share of Windows workstations and GPU servers
Data Quality
5 sources
Confidence: Medium
EUVD NVD CVE.org EPSS Vulnrichment Vendor GitHub

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity HIGH
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.2%
Patch available No
Active threat No
Deciding rule
HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision
Scheduled
Exploitation
None
System Exposure· derived
Small
Automatable
No
Human Impact
High
Technical Impact
Total

Priority Score

39
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +39
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Use-after-free vulnerabilities occur when a program continues to access memory through a pointer after that memory has been deallocated.

Memory corruption occurs when a program writes data beyond the boundaries of allocated memory regions or accesses memory in unintended ways, violating the integrity of the process's address space.

Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.

Remote Code Execution represents the critical moment when an attacker successfully runs arbitrary code on a target system without physical access.

Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.

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Vendor StatusVendor

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