CVE-2025-23355
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 · uneditedNVIDIA Nsight Graphics for Windows contains a vulnerability in an ngfx component, where an attacker could cause a DLL highjacking attack. A successful exploit of this vulnerability may lead to code execution, escalation of privileges, data tampering, and denial of service.
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 confidenceNVIDIA Nsight Graphics for Windows contains a DLL hijacking vulnerability in the ngfx component. The application loads DLLs without secure full-path specification, allowing an attacker to place a malicious DLL in a search path location (such as the application directory or system PATH) that the vulnerable component will load instead of the legitimate DLL, achieving code execution with the application's privileges.
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< 2025.3CVSS 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
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/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 Nsight Graphics installation pathLocate the Nsight Graphics installation directory, typically found under Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\Nsight Graphics or in a custom install location. Check Program Files, Program Files (x86), or the path used during initial installation.Affected if The application is installed and the ngfx component (ngfx*.dll) is present in the installation directory
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Determine installed Nsight Graphics versionRight-click on the Nsight Graphics executable (typically nvgfx.exe or nsightgraphics.exe) in the installation folder, select Properties, and view the Details tab for the Product Version. Alternatively, check Add/Remove Programs or the NVIDIA Installer for version information.Affected if The installed version is lower than 2025.3 (for example, 2025.2, 2024.x, or earlier)
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Inspect DLL search path behaviorUse Process Monitor from Sysinternals to monitor DLL loading by Nsight Graphics. Set a filter for Path ending with .dll and Process Name containing nvgfx or nsightgraphics. Observe which directories the application searches for DLLs.Affected if The application loads DLLs from directories in the system PATH or the application directory without using secure full-path specifications, indicating vulnerable DLL search behavior
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Check application directory write permissionsRight-click the Nsight Graphics installation folder, select Properties, then Security tab. Review which users or groups have Write or Modify permissions on the folder.Affected if Users other than Administrators or the SYSTEM account have Write or Modify permissions to the installation directory, allowing placement of malicious DLLs
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Audit PATH environment variable for writable directoriesOpen System Properties > Advanced > Environment Variables. Review both User and System PATH variables. Use icacls to check each directory in PATH for write permissions by non-admin users (icacls dirname).Affected if Any directory in the system PATH that appears before the legitimate DLL locations is writable by untrusted users, creating a hijacking opportunity
You are affected if NVIDIA Nsight Graphics version is below 2025.3 AND the ngfx component is present AND untrusted users can write to directories in the application's DLL search path (application directory or system PATH).
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.
dbcve · scoped2025.3
Apply the vendor patch from NVIDIA's security advisory for Nsight Graphics. As a defense-in-depth measure, ensure the application runs from a controlled directory with restricted write permissions and verify that no untrusted directories exist in the system PATH before the legitimate DLL locations.
2025.3
- Identify the currently installed version of NVIDIA Nsight Graphics on the system
- Navigate to the official NVIDIA website or NVIDIA Developer portal to download the latest version
- Download NVIDIA Nsight Graphics version 2025.3 or later
- Run the installer and follow the on-screen prompts to upgrade the software
- Restart any running instances of Nsight Graphics after the upgrade completes
- Verify the installed version is 2025.3 or higher to confirm the vulnerability is remediated
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-23355 — 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-2025-23355 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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