CVE-2025-20065
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 · uneditedUncontrolled search path for some Display Virtualization for Windows OS software before version 1797 within Ring 2: Device Drivers may allow an escalation of privilege. Unprivileged software adversary with an authenticated user combined with a high complexity attack may enable escalation of privilege. This result may potentially occur via local access when attack requirements are present without special internal knowledge and requires active user interaction. The potential vulnerability may impact the confidentiality (high), integrity (high) and availability (high) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (none), integrity (none) and availability (none) impacts.
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 confidenceThis is an uncontrolled search path vulnerability in Display Virtualization for Windows OS device drivers (Ring 2) prior to version 1797. An authenticated but unprivileged attacker can exploit this to load malicious code from attacker-controlled locations, potentially achieving privilege escalation to higher ring levels through DLL hijacking or similar techniques.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
- High
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Display Virtualization software installationCheck the list of installed programs in Control Panel or registry key HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for entries related to display virtualization or remote display software. Also check for virtualization platform client components.Affected if Display Virtualization for Windows OS software is present on the system
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Determine the installed version of Display Virtualization softwareLocate the version information through the software's About dialog, executable file properties, or check the version value in the registry under the installed component's key.Affected if The installed version is lower than 1797 or cannot be determined to be 1797 or later
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Verify the display virtualization driver is loadedOpen Device Manager and expand the Display adapters or System devices section. Look for display virtualization device drivers (Ring 2 drivers). Alternatively, run 'driverquery /v' or check HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services for display virtualization related drivers.Affected if A Display Virtualization for Windows OS device driver is present and loaded on the system
A user is affected if Display Virtualization for Windows OS software with a driver component is installed with a version prior to 1797.
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 Display Virtualization for Windows OS software to version 1797 or later to remediate the uncontrolled search path vulnerability in the affected device drivers.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 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-2025-20065 — 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-2025-20065 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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