CVE-2026-22163
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 · uneditedRequires malware code to misuse the DDK kernel module IOCTL interface. Such code can use the interface in an unsupported way that allows subversion of the GPU to perform writes to arbitrary physical memory pages. The product utilises a shared resource in a concurrent manner but does not attempt to synchronise access to the resource.
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 confidenceThe DDK kernel module IOCTL interface lacks proper synchronization when accessing shared resources, allowing malicious code to subvert the GPU and perform writes to arbitrary physical memory pages. This is a race condition vulnerability where concurrent access to a shared resource is not synchronized.
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>= 25.1, <= 25.3= 1.17= 1.18= 23.2= 24.1= 24.2CVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if Imagination Technologies DDK is installedLocate the DDK kernel module on the system - this is typically the PowerVR GPU driver. Check for modules related to Imagination Technologies or PowerVR graphics.Affected if The DDK kernel module is present on the system
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Determine the installed DDK versionQuery the installed DDK version using system tools (such as modinfo, driver version files, or package management tools depending on the system).Affected if The installed version matches one of the affected ranges: >= 25.1 through <= 25.3, or exactly version 1.17, 1.18, 23.2, 24.1, or 24.2
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Check if the kernel module is loadedVerify whether the DDK kernel module is currently loaded in memory using system commands such as lsmod.Affected if The vulnerable DDK module is currently loaded and active
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Verify IOCTL interface accessibilityInspect the IOCTL interface configuration and determine whether it is accessible to user-space applications. Check if there are any access controls restricting IOCTL calls to privileged processes only.Affected if The IOCTL interface is exposed and accessible without proper restrictions, allowing concurrent access to trigger the race condition
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Confirm concurrent access capabilityDetermine whether unprivileged code can make concurrent IOCTL requests to the DDK driver, which is required to exploit the race condition.Affected if Concurrent IOCTL calls can be made by user applications to trigger the race condition
The system is affected if it has an affected DDK version (listed above) installed with the kernel module loaded and the IOCTL interface accessible for concurrent user-space access.
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 vendor patch to add proper locking/synchronization to the DDK kernel module IOCTL handlers; consider restricting IOCTL access to privileged processes until patched.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $11,136.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-22163 — 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-2026-22163 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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