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Memory Buffer Bounds ErrorWeakness · CWE-119

CVE-2025-9338

HIGH · 7.3 CVSS v4.0 Published 2025-11-06
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
75/100
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
A improper restriction of operations within the bounds of a memory buffer exists in AsIO3.sys driver. This vulnerability can be triggered by manually executing a specially crafted process, potentially leading to local privilage escalation. For additional information, please refer to the 'Security Update for Armoury Crate App' section of the ASUS Security Advisory.

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

A buffer boundary restriction vulnerability exists in the AsIO3.sys kernel-mode driver used by ASUS Armoury Crate. The flaw allows a local attacker to execute a specially crafted process that can overflow memory boundaries in kernel context, enabling privilege escalation from a standard user to elevated (SYSTEM) privileges.

MitigationApply the ASUS security update for Armoury Crate to obtain the patched driver version, or if updates are unavailable, consider disabling or removing the Armoury Crate application and its associated kernel drivers until a patch can be applied.

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
Authentication
X
User interaction
None
Scope
X

CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

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. Verify if ASUS Armoury Crate is installed
    Check for Armoury Crate in the Windows installed programs list via Control Panel > Programs and Features, or query the registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for entries containing 'Armoury Crate' or 'ASUS Armoury Crate'
    Affected if Armoury Crate appears in the installed programs list
  2. Locate the AsIO3.sys driver file
    Search for AsIO3.sys in typical driver directories: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\, C:\Program Files\ASUS\Armoury Crate\, or C:\Program Files (x86)\ASUS\Armoury Crate\
    Affected if The AsIO3.sys file exists in any of these locations
  3. Check if the AsIO3.sys driver is loaded
    Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run 'sc query AsIO3' or 'driverquery /v | findstr AsIO3' to query the driver service status
    Affected if The driver shows as RUNNING or the service exists in a started state
  4. Inspect driver file version information
    Right-click the AsIO3.sys file, select Properties, then go to the Details tab to view File Version and Product Version fields
    Affected if A version number exists but is earlier than the patched version released by ASUS (compare to vendor advisory for exact version boundary)
  5. Verify driver is signed and loaded in kernel
    Run 'driverquery /v | findstr AsIO3' and note the 'Status' column; also check via 'kmdf verifier' or sysinternal tools like 'WinObj' to confirm kernel-mode driver presence
    Affected if Driver is listed as 'Running' in driverquery output with 'Kernel Mode' indicated

A user is affected if ASUS Armoury Crate is installed with the AsIO3.sys driver present and loaded, and the driver version has not been updated to the patched version released by ASUS.

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

Apply the ASUS security update for Armoury Crate to obtain the patched driver version, or if updates are unavailable, consider disabling or removing the Armoury Crate application and its associated kernel drivers until a patch can be applied.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,920
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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-2025-9338 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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