CVE-2015-1170
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe NVIDIA Display Driver R304 before 309.08, R340 before 341.44, R343 before 345.20, and R346 before 347.52 does not properly validate local client impersonation levels when performing a "kernel administrator check," which allows local users to gain administrator privileges via unspecified API calls.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe NVIDIA Display Driver contains a privilege escalation vulnerability in its kernel administrator check function. The driver fails to properly validate local client impersonation levels, allowing an unprivileged local user to call unspecified APIs and gain administrator privileges on the system.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data<= 309.07<= 341.43<= 345.19<= 347.51CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check NVIDIA driver version in Windows RegistryOpen regedit and navigate to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\nvlddmkm\Version, or run `wmic path win32_VideoController get name,driverversion`Affected if The driver version shown is within these ranges: R304 series <= 309.07, R340 series <= 341.43, R343 series <= 345.19, or R346 series <= 347.51
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Check NVIDIA driver version via NVIDIA Control PanelOpen NVIDIA Control Panel, click 'System Information' in the bottom-left corner, note the version number displayed under the driver branch (for example, R340 or R346) and the specific version numberAffected if The displayed version falls within the affected ranges listed above
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Verify the NVIDIA kernel driver is loadedOpen Device Manager, expand 'Display adapters', right-click the NVIDIA GPU and select 'Properties', check the 'Driver' tab to confirm the driver is loaded and active, or run `sc query nvlddmkm` in an elevated command promptAffected if The NVIDIA kernel driver (nvlddmkm) is present and running on the system
A system is affected if it runs any of the vulnerable NVIDIA display driver versions (R304 <= 309.07, R340 <= 341.43, R343 <= 345.19, or R346 <= 347.51) with the kernel driver loaded, allowing an unprivileged local user to potentially escalate to administrator privileges.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpdate NVIDIA Display Driver to version 309.08 or later for R304, 341.44 or later for R340, 345.20 or later for R343, or 347.52 or later for R346. Alternatively, restrict local user access to systems running affected driver versions.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-1170 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2015-1170 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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