CVE-2018-3666
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 · uneditedDriver module in Intel Smart Sound Technology before version 9.21.00.3541 potentially allows a local attacker to execute arbitrary code as administrator via a non-paged pool overflow.
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 confidenceA non-paged pool overflow vulnerability in the Intel Smart Sound Technology driver module allows a local authenticated attacker to escalate privileges to administrator level and execute arbitrary code. The vulnerability exists in versions prior to 9.21.00.3541 and stems from improper bounds checking when handling pool memory allocations in the audio driver.
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< 9.21.00.3541CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Intel Smart Sound Technology driver is presentOpen Device Manager, expand 'Sound, video and game controllers', and look for an Intel audio driver with 'Smart Sound' or similar naming. Alternatively, run 'driverquery /v' and search output for Intel audio-related drivers.Affected if The driver is installed on the system
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Obtain the installed driver versionIn Device Manager, right-click the Intel Smart Sound driver, select Properties, go to the Driver tab, and note the Driver Version field. Alternatively, use 'wmic path win32_pnpsigneddriver where "Description like '%Intel%Smart%Sound%'" get DeviceID, DriverVersion, DriverDate'Affected if A version number is returned showing the driver is installed
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Compare against the vulnerable version thresholdCompare the installed driver version to 9.21.00.3541 using standard version comparison (major.minor.build.revision format). Versions below 9.21.00.3541 are affected.Affected if The installed version is less than 9.21.00.3541
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Confirm the driver is loaded and activeCheck that the driver is in a 'Started' state or loaded by running 'sc query type= driver | findstr /i intel' or by verifying the driver loads at system startup.Affected if The driver is currently loaded or set to start automatically
The system is affected if the Intel Smart Sound Technology driver is installed with a version number lower than 9.21.00.3541 and the driver is present or loaded on the system.
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 data9.21.00.3541
Update Intel Smart Sound Technology driver to version 9.21.00.3541 or later. Organizations should deploy the updated driver through their standard patch management processes and verify audio functionality post-update.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-3666 — 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-2018-3666 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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