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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 3 Mar 2023. Known ransomware use
Ethernet Diagnostics Driver Iqvw32.sysApplication · Intel

CVE-2015-2291

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2017-08-09
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
96/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Ransomware Public exploit Zero-click Patch available

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 · unedited
(1) IQVW32.sys before 1.3.1.0 and (2) IQVW64.sys before 1.3.1.0 in the Intel Ethernet diagnostics driver for Windows allows local users to cause a denial of service or possibly execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges via a crafted (a) 0x80862013, (b) 0x8086200B, (c) 0x8086200F, or (d) 0x80862007 IOCTL call.

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 · moderate confidence

The Intel Ethernet diagnostics driver (IQVW32.sys and IQVW64.sys) versions before 1.3.1.0 contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Windows. The driver improperly handles specific IOCTL codes (0x80862013, 0x8086200B, 0x8086200F, 0x80862007), allowing local authenticated users to trigger the vulnerability and potentially execute arbitrary code with kernel-level privileges or cause a denial of service.

MitigationUpdate the Intel Ethernet diagnostics driver to version 1.3.1.0 or later. If the driver is not required for business operations, remove or disable it to reduce the attack surface.

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
Ethernet Diagnostics Driver Iqvw32.sysApplication
Affected:= 1.03.0.7
Ethernet Diagnostics Driver Iqvw64.sysApplication
Affected:= 1.03.0.7

CVSS 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
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Locate the Intel Ethernet diagnostics driver files
    Search for IQVW32.sys and IQVW64.sys in system directories using 'Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Windows\System32\drivers -Filter IQVW*.sys -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue' or 'dir C:\Windows\System32\drivers\IQVW*.sys'
    Affected if Either IQVW32.sys or IQVW64.sys file exists on the system
  2. Retrieve the driver file version
    Right-click each.sys file, select Properties, then Details to view the File Version field, or use PowerShell: '(Get-Item "C:\Windows\System32\drivers\IQVW32.sys").VersionInfo.FileVersion'
    Affected if The displayed version equals 1.03.0.7 exactly (the vulnerable version)
  3. Verify the driver is loaded or available
    Open Device Manager, select 'Show hidden devices' from the View menu, then expand 'Non-plug and Play Drivers' to look for Intel Ethernet Diagnostics Driver entries, or run 'sc query iqv' from command prompt
    Affected if The driver appears in the list as loaded or available, indicating the attack surface is active
  4. Identify processes using the driver
    Run 'driverquery /v | findstr -i iqvw' from command prompt to list driver status, or use Process Explorer to search for handles or DLLs referencing IQVW32.sys or IQVW64.sys
    Affected if The driver is in a Running or Started state rather than Stopped

If IQVW32.sys or IQVW64.sys exists on the system with file version 1.03.0.7 and the driver is loaded or available for use, the environment is affected by CVE-2015-2291.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch security-center.intel.com →
Interim mitigation

Update the Intel Ethernet diagnostics driver to version 1.3.1.0 or later. If the driver is not required for business operations, remove or disable it to reduce the attack surface.

Recommended fix High confidence

Intel Ethernet Diagnostics Driver version 1.3.1.0 or later

  1. Identify if the Intel Ethernet Diagnostics Driver (iqvw32.sys or iqvw64.sys) is installed on the target system
  2. Navigate to the Intel download center or Intel's official support website
  3. Search for the Intel Ethernet Diagnostics Driver for Windows
  4. Download the updated version (1.3.1.0 or later) from Intel's official source
  5. Stop any running Intel Ethernet diagnostics services if applicable
  6. Replace the vulnerable driver files (iqvw32.sys and/or iqvw64.sys) in the system driver directory with the updated versions
  7. Restart the system to load the updated driver
  8. Verify the driver version by checking the file properties of the newly installed iqvw32.sys and iqvw64.sys files to confirm version 1.3.1.0 or later is installed

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Ethernet Diagnostics Driver Iqvw32.sys Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,120
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2015-2291 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data