dbcve.org
Armoury CrateApplication · Asus

CVE-2022-42455

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-02-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.3.4.1 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
ASUS EC Tool driver (aka d.sys) 1beb15c90dcf7a5234ed077833a0a3e900969b60be1d04fcebce0a9f8994bdbb, as signed by ASUS and shipped with multiple ASUS software products, contains multiple IOCTL handlers that provide raw read and write access to port I/O and MSRs via unprivileged IOCTL calls. Local users can gain privileges.

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 confidence

The ASUS EC Tool driver (d.sys) contains multiple IOCTL handlers that allow unprivileged local users to perform raw port I/O and Model-Specific Register (MSR) read/write operations via specially crafted IOCTL calls. This provides direct kernel-level hardware access that can be leveraged for local privilege escalation to SYSTEM.

MitigationRemove or disable the vulnerable ASUS EC Tool driver from affected systems, apply vendor patches from ASUS for all affected software products, or block the driver loading via group policy to prevent exploitation.

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
Armoury CrateApplication
Affected:< 5.3.4.1

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 ASUS EC Tool driver file
    Search the system for the file 'd.sys' in common driver locations such as C:\Windows\System32\drivers\, C:\Program Files\ASUS\, or C:\ProgramData\ASUS\
    Affected if The file d.sys exists on the system
  2. Identify installed Armoury Crate version
    Open Programs and Features (appwiz.cpl) or check the installation directory for Asus Armoury Crate and verify the installed version against the affected range (versions prior to 5.3.4.1)
    Affected if Armoury Crate is installed with a version lower than 5.3.4.1
  3. Check if the EC Tool driver is loaded
    Open an elevated command prompt and run 'sc query d.sys' or check Device Manager under 'System devices' for an entry related to ASUS EC Tool or the driver d.sys
    Affected if The driver service exists and shows as RUNNING or START_PENDING
  4. Inspect driver IOCTL handlers
    Use tools such as DriverView, WinObj, or Process Explorer to examine the driver's registered device objects and IOCTL codes. Alternatively, use 'fltenum' or similar driver enumeration tools to identify exposed IOCTL interfaces from d.sys
    Affected if The driver exposes device interfaces accepting IOCTL requests for port I/O or MSR operations

A system is affected if the ASUS EC Tool driver (d.sys) is present and Armoury Crate version is lower than 5.3.4.1, regardless of whether the driver is actively loaded.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.3.4.1 or later
Fixed in 5.3.4.1
Interim mitigation

Remove or disable the vulnerable ASUS EC Tool driver from affected systems, apply vendor patches from ASUS for all affected software products, or block the driver loading via group policy to prevent exploitation.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Armoury Crate 5.3.4.1 or later

  1. 1. Uninstall any existing Armoury Crate installation using the official ASUS uninstaller or Windows Add/Remove Programs
  2. 2. Download the latest version of Armoury Crate from the official ASUS support website (https://www.asus.com/supportonly/armoury%20crate/helpdesk_download/)
  3. 3. Install the latest Armoury Crate version (ensure it is version 5.3.4.1 or later)
  4. 4. Restart your computer after installation completes
  5. 5. Verify the installed version by opening Armoury Crate and checking the About/Version section
Caveat Minor: Some legacy ASUS software may need to be reinstalled or updated to ensure full compatibility with the newest Armoury Crate

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

Fix this in Armoury Crate Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $2,000
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,200.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-42455 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2022-42455 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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