CVE-2025-33237
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 HD Audio Driver for Windows contains a vulnerability where an attacker could exploit a NULL pointer dereference issue. A successful exploit of this vulnerability might lead to a 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 HD Audio Driver for Windows contains a NULL pointer dereference vulnerability that could be exploited by an attacker to cause a denial of service. The vulnerability exists in the driver's handling of certain operations, where a NULL pointer is dereferenced without proper validation, leading to a system crash or service interruption.
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
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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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Locate the NVIDIA HD Audio DriverOpen Device Manager, expand 'Sound, video and game controllers', and look for 'NVIDIA High Definition Audio' or similar NVIDIA audio driver entries. Right-click and select 'Properties' to view driver details.Affected if The driver is present in the system
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Check the driver versionIn Device Manager under the NVIDIA HD Audio driver Properties, go to the 'Driver' tab and note the Driver Version string (e.g., 1.x.x.xxxx format). Compare this to the version in NVIDIA's security bulletin for CVE-2025-33237.Affected if The driver version matches or predates the affected versions listed in NVIDIA's advisory
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Identify the driver file pathIn Device Manager, under the NVIDIA HD Audio driver Properties > Driver Details, note the driver files listed (typically nvvhci.sys or similar audio-related sys files). Verify these files exist at the reported paths.Affected if The driver files exist and match the vulnerable driver components
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Verify the driver is loaded and activeOpen Services (services.msc) and check for NVIDIA Audio Service entries, or run 'sc query nvvhci' or 'driverquery | findstr -i nvidia' in Command Prompt to confirm the driver module is loaded.Affected if The NVIDIA audio driver service or module is running
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Check driver signing statusRight-click the driver .sys file (from step 3), go to Properties > Digital Signatures. Verify if the driver is signed by NVIDIA Corporation. Unsigned or tampered drivers indicate potential compromise.Affected if The driver is signed but unpatched, or shows signs of modification
A system is affected if the NVIDIA HD Audio Driver for Windows is installed and the installed version falls within or predates the affected version range specified in NVIDIA's CVE-2025-3323725-33237 security advisory.
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 dataApply the NVIDIA driver update containing the security fix when available. In the interim, restrict access to untrusted audio sources and monitor for anomalous system behavior. For defense-in-depth, ensure standard user accounts cannot directly interact with driver-level components.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-33237 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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