CVE-2026-47594 in GeForce Driver
Summary
by MITRE • 09/30/2026
NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows and Linux contains a vulnerability where an unprivileged user may cause a use-after-free condition by issuing a sequence of driver commands. A successful exploit of this vulnerability might lead to code execution, escalation of privileges, denial of service, data tampering, and information disclosure.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/30/2026
The NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows and Linux contains a critical security flaw that allows an unprivileged user to trigger a use-after-free condition through the issuance of specific sequences of driver commands. This vulnerability resides within the kernel-mode components of the graphics processing unit drivers, which operate with high privileges on the host system. The core technical issue stems from improper memory management practices where the driver fails to properly validate or synchronize access to freed memory regions after they have been released back to the operating system's pool. When an attacker constructs a precise sequence of IOCTL requests or API calls directed at the GPU subsystem, it is possible to free a kernel object while retaining a dangling pointer that remains accessible through subsequent operations. This classic use-after-free scenario creates a window where the driver may read from or write to memory locations that no longer belong to the intended context, leading to undefined behavior and potential exploitation of the underlying system architecture.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe due to its location within the graphics driver stack, which typically runs with SYSTEM-level privileges on Windows or root-equivalent capabilities on Linux systems. A successful exploit allows an unprivileged local user to escalate their privileges to that of a trusted administrator or kernel entity. By carefully crafting heap spray techniques and controlling the contents of the freed memory region before it is reallocated for another purpose, an attacker can hijack control flow within the driver's execution context. This capability directly facilitates arbitrary code execution with high-level permissions, effectively bypassing standard user-space isolation mechanisms. Furthermore, even if full code execution is not achieved immediately, the vulnerability enables denial of service conditions by causing kernel panics or system crashes through invalid memory accesses. It also permits data tampering within protected driver structures and information disclosure by reading sensitive kernel memory contents that should remain inaccessible to untrusted processes.
From a classification perspective, this flaw aligns with CWE-416, which describes the use of an invalidated reference or pointer resulting in unexpected behavior after deallocation. The attack vector leverages local access privileges to interact directly with device drivers via system calls, mapping closely to MITRE ATT&CK techniques such as T1055 Process Injection and T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation within the context of driver exploitation. Security researchers note that GPU drivers present a particularly attractive attack surface because they often maintain complex state machines and handle large amounts of user-supplied data without sufficient sanitization or bounds checking in all code paths. The ability to trigger this condition remotely via local execution means that any application running under an unprivileged account can potentially compromise the entire host system if it interacts with the GPU driver using maliciously crafted commands.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability primarily involve applying vendor-provided security patches and updates to the NVIDIA display drivers on affected Windows and Linux systems. Organizations should prioritize updating these components as part of their routine patch management cycles, ensuring that all endpoints are protected against known exploitation patterns. In environments where immediate patching is not feasible, implementing strict application whitelisting can prevent unauthorized or untrusted applications from issuing low-level driver commands to the GPU subsystem. Additionally, enabling hardware-enforced stack protection and memory integrity features such as Windows Defender Credential Guard or Linux kernel hardening options like KASLR and SMEP/SMEP can reduce the likelihood of successful exploitation by making it more difficult for attackers to predict memory layouts and execute shellcode within privileged contexts. Continuous monitoring for anomalous driver interactions and restricting direct hardware access through virtualization boundaries further enhances defense-in-depth posture against such low-level kernel vulnerabilities.