NULL Pointer DereferenceWeakness · CWE-476

CVE-2025-9548

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-10-15
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 potential null pointer dereference vulnerability was reported in the Lenovo Power Management Driver that could allow a local authenticated user to cause a Windows blue screen error.

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

A null pointer dereference vulnerability exists in the Lenovo Power Management Driver that can be triggered by a local authenticated user, causing a Windows blue screen (BSOD/denial of service). This is a kernel-mode driver issue where pointer validation is insufficient before dereferencing.

MitigationApply the Lenovo driver update when available. Until then, limit local access to trusted authenticated users only and monitor for crash reports indicative of exploitation.

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 checks

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

  1. Confirm Lenovo Power Management Driver is installed
    Open Device Manager, expand 'System devices', and look for Lenovo Power Management Driver or check Programs and Features for Lenovo utilities. Alternatively, run 'driverquery /v | findstr -i lenovo' in Command Prompt.
    Affected if The driver is listed in Device Manager or driverquery output
  2. Identify the driver version
    In Device Manager, right-click the Lenovo Power Management Driver, select Properties, then the Driver tab to view the driver version. Alternatively, use 'powershell Get-WmiObject Win32_PnPSignedDriver | Where-Object {$_.DeviceName -like "*Lenovo*Power*Management*"} | Select-Object DriverVersion, DeviceName'
    Affected if Version cannot be determined or is within an unpatched version range
  3. Verify the driver is currently loaded
    Open Services (services.msc) and look for any Lenovo power management related services, or run 'sc query type= driver' and search for Lenovo power management entries.
    Affected if The driver service is running and active
  4. Check for BSOD crash dumps
    Navigate to C:\Windows\Minidump or use Event Viewer (Application and Services Logs > Windows > BugCheck) to look for recent crash events. Open .dmp files with WinDbg or similar to analyze the crash reason.
    Affected if Recent crash dumps reference the Lenovo Power Management Driver (lmamd64.sys or similar) as the faulting module
  5. Identify authenticated local user access
    Review system audit logs in Event Viewer under Security logs for local user logon events, and check account management for the presence of non-admin or untrusted local accounts.
    Affected if Multiple authenticated local users exist or untrusted accounts have access to the system

If the Lenovo Power Management Driver is installed, loaded, and a local authenticated user can access the system, the environment is potentially affected by this null pointer dereference vulnerability.

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 Lenovo driver update when available. Until then, limit local access to trusted authenticated users only and monitor for crash reports indicative of exploitation.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,190
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2025-9548 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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