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Graphics DriverApplication · Intel

CVE-2018-12153

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-10-10
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
67/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click

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
Denial of Service in Unified Shader Compiler in Intel Graphics Drivers before 10.18.x.5056 (aka 15.33.x.5056), 10.18.x.5057 (aka 15.36.x.5057) and 20.19.x.5058 (aka 15.40.x.5058) may allow an unprivileged user from a virtual machine guest to potentially crash the host system via local access.

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

A denial of service vulnerability exists in the Unified Shader Compiler of Intel Graphics Drivers. An unprivileged user operating from within a virtual machine guest can exploit this flaw to potentially crash the host system via local access, representing a VM escape scenario.

MitigationUpdate Intel Graphics Drivers to version 10.18.x.5056 or higher for the 15.33.x series, 10.18.x.5057 or higher for 15.36.x, and 20.19.x.5058 or higher for 15.40.x. Alternatively, restrict or disable GPU passthrough to untrusted VMs as a compensating control.

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
Graphics DriverApplication
Affected:= 15.33.43.4425= 15.33.45.4653= 15.33.46.4885= 15.33.47.5059= 15.36.26.4294= 15.36.28.4332= 15.36.31.4414= 15.36.33.4578= 15.36.34.4889= 15.36.35.5057= 15.40.34.4624= 15.40.36.4703

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
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/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. Identify Intel Graphics Driver version on Windows
    Open Device Manager, expand 'Display adapters', right-click on Intel graphics device, select 'Properties', go to 'Driver' tab, note the Driver Version field
    Affected if Driver version matches any of: 15.33.43.4425, 15.33.45.4653, 15.33.46.4885, 15.33.47.5059, 15.36.26.4294, 15.36.28.4332, 15.36.31.4414, 15.36.33.4578, 15.36.34.4889, 15.36.35.5057, 15.40.34.4624, or 15.40.36.4703
  2. Identify Intel Graphics Driver version on Linux
    Run 'modinfo i915' or 'lsmod | grep i915' and check the driver version, or run 'intel_gpu_top' if available to see driver version
    Affected if Driver version matches any of the affected versions listed above
  3. Determine if host runs virtualization with GPU passthrough
    Check if Hyper-V, VMware, KVM/QEMU, or Xen is installed and configured with GPU passthrough (looking for 'GPU Passthrough', 'vGPU', or 'PCI passthrough' settings in hypervisor configuration)
    Affected if Any virtual machine has direct access to the Intel GPU via passthrough or vGPU assignment
  4. Check for untrusted or guest VMs with GPU access
    Review virtualization configuration to list which VMs have the Intel GPU or VGA controller passed through, and determine trust level of those VM guests
    Affected if An untrusted or less-trusted virtual machine guest has direct access to the Intel Graphics Driver through passthrough

A system is affected if it runs any of the specific Intel Graphics Driver versions listed AND has GPU passthrough enabled allowing virtual machine guests to access the graphics driver.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update Intel Graphics Drivers to version 10.18.x.5056 or higher for the 15.33.x series, 10.18.x.5057 or higher for 15.36.x, and 20.19.x.5058 or higher for 15.40.x. Alternatively, restrict or disable GPU passthrough to untrusted VMs as a compensating control.

Fix this in Graphics Driver Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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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-2018-12153 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
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