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Uncontrolled Search Path (DLL Hijack)Weakness · CWE-427

CVE-2025-23309

HIGH · 8.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-10-10
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
82/100
Remediation priority · High

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
NVIDIA Display Driver contains a vulnerability where an uncontrolled DLL loading path might lead to arbitrary denial of service, escalation of privileges, code execution, and data tampering.

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

NVIDIA Display Driver contains an uncontrolled DLL loading vulnerability where the driver loads Dynamic Link Libraries from paths that can be manipulated by an attacker, potentially allowing privilege escalation, arbitrary code execution, denial of service, and data tampering.

MitigationUpdate NVIDIA Display Driver to the latest version provided by NVIDIA. Prioritize updating systems with privileged access or exposure to untrusted code paths.

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
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/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 checks

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

  1. Identify NVIDIA Display Driver version
    Run 'nvidia-smi' in Command Prompt or Power Shell and note the Driver Version field, or open Device Manager > Display adapters > right-click NVIDIA GPU > Properties > Driver tab
    Affected if The installed driver version is older than the version that addresses this vulnerability (check NVIDIA's security bulletin for the fixed version)
  2. Check driver version via registry
    Open Registry Editor and navigate to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\nvlddmkm\DriverVersion, or check HKLM\SOFTWARE\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\Container\DriverVersion
    Affected if The registry value shows a version lower than the patched version listed in NVIDIA's security advisory
  3. Verify NVIDIA kernel driver is loaded
    Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run 'sc query nvlddmkm' or check Device Manager for any NVIDIA display driver entries under Display adapters
    Affected if An NVIDIA driver is installed and loaded, and the version matches the affected range
  4. Confirm user has NVIDIA GPU hardware
    Open Device Manager > Display adapters, or run 'Get-PnpDevice -Class Display' in PowerShell, or physically inspect the system
    Affected if A NVIDIA GPU is present and has the driver installed, placing the DLL loading mechanism in the attack surface

If an NVIDIA Display Driver is installed and its version is older than the version NVIDIA has patched for this uncontrolled DLL loading issue, the system is potentially affected.

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 NVIDIA Display Driver to the latest version provided by NVIDIA. Prioritize updating systems with privileged access or exposure to untrusted code paths.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-2025-23309 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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