CVE-2016-5025 in Graphics Driver
Summary
by MITRE
For the NVIDIA Quadro, NVS, GeForce products, improper sanitization of parameters in the NVAPI support layer causes a denial of service vulnerability (blue screen crash) within the NVIDIA Windows graphics drivers.
If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/27/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-5025 represents a critical flaw in NVIDIA's graphics driver architecture affecting Quadro, NVS, and GeForce product lines. This issue resides within the NVAPI support layer, which serves as a crucial interface between applications and the graphics hardware. The improper sanitization of parameters creates a condition where malformed input can trigger system instability, resulting in complete system crashes manifesting as blue screen errors. The vulnerability specifically impacts Windows operating systems and demonstrates the dangerous consequences of inadequate input validation in kernel-level components.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from insufficient parameter validation within the NVAPI subsystem that handles graphics driver interactions. When applications pass malformed or unexpected parameters to the graphics driver through NVAPI interfaces, the system fails to properly sanitize these inputs before processing them. This lack of proper input validation creates a path for malicious or malformed data to reach critical driver components, ultimately leading to memory corruption and system crashes. The flaw operates at the kernel level where graphics drivers execute with elevated privileges, making the potential impact significantly more severe than typical user-space vulnerabilities. This vulnerability directly maps to CWE-129, which addresses insufficient validation of length of input buffers, and CWE-131, which covers incorrect calculation of buffer size.
The operational impact of CVE-2016-5025 extends beyond simple system instability to represent a serious denial of service threat that can affect enterprise environments and consumer systems alike. Organizations relying on NVIDIA graphics hardware for critical operations face potential downtime risks, while individual users may experience unexpected system crashes during gaming sessions or professional graphics work. The vulnerability can be exploited through various attack vectors including malicious software, compromised applications, or even legitimate software that inadvertently passes malformed parameters to the graphics driver. The blue screen crashes caused by this vulnerability can result in data loss, system instability, and productivity interruptions that are particularly problematic in professional environments where graphics performance is critical for workflows involving CAD, video editing, or scientific visualization.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2016-5025 primarily focus on immediate driver updates from NVIDIA, which address the parameter sanitization issues within the NVAPI support layer. System administrators should prioritize deployment of the latest NVIDIA graphics drivers that contain patches for this vulnerability, as these updates implement proper input validation mechanisms. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing application whitelisting policies to control which applications can interact with graphics driver interfaces, reducing the attack surface for exploitation. Network segmentation and monitoring solutions can help detect anomalous behavior patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability highlights the importance of maintaining current driver versions and implementing robust input validation practices in all kernel-level components. Security professionals should also consider monitoring for blue screen events and system crashes as potential indicators of exploitation attempts. This vulnerability demonstrates the critical need for comprehensive security testing of driver components and proper parameter validation in system-level software, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1068 which covers exploit for privilege escalation and T1489 which addresses denial of service through system resource consumption.