CVE-2011-2602 in Geforce 310 driver
Summary
by MITRE
The NVIDIA Geforce 310 driver 6.14.12.7061 on Windows XP SP3 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (system crash) via a crafted web page that is visited with Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, as demonstrated by the lots-of-polys-example.html test page in the Khronos WebGL SDK.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/26/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-2602 represents a critical denial of service flaw within the NVIDIA GeForce 310 driver version 6.14.12.7061 running on Windows XP SP3 systems. This weakness specifically affects graphics processing units that utilize the NVIDIA GeForce 310 driver architecture and demonstrates how seemingly benign web content can be weaponized to compromise system stability. The flaw manifests when users navigate to specially crafted web pages using popular web browsers such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, triggering a cascade of events that ultimately leads to system crashes and complete service disruption. The vulnerability was demonstrated through the Khronos WebGL SDK's lots-of-polys-example.html test page, which served as a proof-of-concept for exploiting the underlying graphics driver vulnerability.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability lies within the graphics driver's insufficient input validation and memory management mechanisms when processing WebGL graphics commands. When the affected NVIDIA driver encounters malformed or excessive graphical data through WebGL implementations, it fails to properly handle the memory allocation and processing requests, leading to buffer overflows or memory corruption within the graphics processing unit's driver components. This type of flaw falls under the CWE-121 category of "Stack-based Buffer Overflow" and demonstrates poor error handling in graphics processing contexts. The vulnerability exploits the interaction between web browsers' WebGL implementations and the graphics driver's rendering pipeline, where the driver does not adequately sanitize the incoming graphical data before processing it, allowing malicious input to trigger system-level failures.
The operational impact of CVE-2011-2602 extends beyond simple system crashes to potentially disrupt business operations and user productivity in environments where graphics-intensive applications are prevalent. Organizations running legacy Windows XP systems with NVIDIA GeForce 310 drivers face significant risk when users browse the internet, as any visit to a malicious website could result in unexpected system shutdowns or reboots. This vulnerability particularly affects environments where users access untrusted websites or where social engineering attacks may be employed to direct users to malicious web content. The attack vector operates through standard web browsing activities, making it particularly dangerous as users may not be aware of the risk until a system crash occurs, potentially leading to data loss or service interruption in mission-critical applications.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate attention from system administrators and security teams responsible for maintaining legacy Windows XP environments. The primary recommended action involves updating to the latest NVIDIA GeForce driver versions that address this specific denial of service vulnerability, though compatibility with Windows XP SP3 must be verified. Organizations should also implement browser-based security controls such as disabling WebGL support or implementing content filtering solutions to prevent access to potentially malicious web pages. Network-level protections including web proxies and firewall rules can help reduce exposure by blocking access to known malicious domains. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability aligns with techniques involving privilege escalation and denial of service through system-level exploitation, and organizations should consider implementing defensive measures against reconnaissance activities that might identify systems running vulnerable drivers. The vulnerability also underscores the importance of maintaining up-to-date graphics drivers and the risks associated with prolonged use of legacy operating systems that may no longer receive security updates from vendors.