CVE-2025-23276: NVIDIA Installer for Windows Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Overview

The ongoing evolution of cyber threats continues to expose inherent vulnerabilities in various software and hardware systems. One recent exposure is found in NVIDIA’s Installer for Windows, a widely used graphics card driver package. This vulnerability, assigned the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) ID CVE-2025-23276, has severe implications for users of the affected NVIDIA software. If exploited, the vulnerability may enable attackers to escalate their privileges within the system, leading to various potential harmful outcomes such as denial of service attacks, code execution, information disclosure, and data tampering.
The severity and widespread use of the affected software make this a crucial issue that sysadmins, developers, and end-users need to address promptly to safeguard their systems and data.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-23276
Severity: High (CVSS: 7.8)
Attack Vector: Local
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Escalation of privileges, denial of service, code execution, information disclosure, and data tampering.

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

NVIDIA Installer for Windows | All versions prior to the latest patch

How the Exploit Works

The CVE-2025-23276 vulnerability arises from a flaw in the NVIDIA Installer’s permission settings for Windows. When installing or updating NVIDIA drivers, the program fails to enforce necessary access controls. This oversight provides an opportunity for malicious actors to insert and execute code with elevated privileges.
The attacker, initially requiring low-level user privileges and user interaction, can exploit this flaw to escalate their permissions within the affected system. The exploit’s successful execution could result in a range of harmful outcomes, including denial of service, unauthorized code execution, information disclosure, and data tampering.

Conceptual Example Code

This conceptual example demonstrates how a malicious actor could potentially exploit this vulnerability. The attacker could, for example, replace a legitimate NVIDIA driver with a malicious one, leading to harmful outcomes when the user initiates an update.

# Attacker gains low-level user access
$ ssh user@target
# Navigate to the directory containing NVIDIA drivers
$ cd /path/to/nvidia/drivers
# Replace a legitimate driver with a malicious one
$ cp /path/to/malicious/driver /path/to/nvidia/drivers/
# When the user initiates an update, the malicious driver gets executed with escalated privileges

Remember, this is a conceptual example and not a real exploit. The goal is to demonstrate the potential vectors an attacker might utilize, not to provide a step-by-step guide for malicious activities.