CVE-2026-47603 in GPU Display Driver
Summary
by MITRE • 09/30/2026
NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows and Linux contains a vulnerability in the kernel mode driver where a local user may access another process's GPU channel state due to missing authorization checks. A successful exploit of this vulnerability might lead to information disclosure.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/30/2026
The identified vulnerability resides within the NVIDIA Graphics Processing Unit display driver, specifically affecting both Windows and Linux operating systems. This flaw is located in the kernel mode portion of the driver software, which operates with high privileges on the host system. The core technical issue stems from a failure to implement proper authorization checks when handling requests related to GPU channel state management. In modern graphics architectures, particularly those utilizing compute shaders or parallel processing pipelines, processes often establish dedicated channels for communicating with the GPU hardware. These channels maintain specific states that define how rendering commands are processed and executed. The vulnerability arises because the driver does not sufficiently validate whether a requesting process has legitimate ownership or permission to access the state information of another active process's channel.
From an operational perspective, this lack of isolation allows any local user account on the affected system to interact with GPU channels belonging to other processes without appropriate authentication. This represents a significant breakdown in privilege separation and resource isolation mechanisms that are critical for maintaining system security boundaries. Because kernel mode drivers execute with ring 0 privileges, they have direct access to hardware resources and memory spaces that should be strictly partitioned between different user sessions or applications. The absence of these checks means that the driver acts as an unintended bridge between isolated processes, bypassing standard operating system security controls designed to prevent cross-process interference.
The primary impact of exploiting this vulnerability is information disclosure. An attacker who successfully leverages this flaw can read sensitive data stored within another process's GPU channel state. This may include proprietary rendering parameters, cryptographic keys if used in graphics-based encryption schemes, or other confidential application-specific data that relies on the isolation provided by the driver layer. While the immediate risk is classified as information disclosure rather than arbitrary code execution, such leaks can serve as a precursor to more severe attacks. For instance, leaked state information could be analyzed to reverse-engineer algorithms, bypass authentication mechanisms in graphics-heavy applications, or facilitate further exploitation of related vulnerabilities within the same software stack.
This vulnerability aligns with Common Weakness Enumeration category CWE-284, which describes Improper Access Control, specifically highlighting failures in authorization checks that allow unauthorized access to resources. Furthermore, it relates to ATT&CK technique T1005, Data from Local System, where adversaries seek to collect data directly from the local machine without network interaction. The exploitation typically requires physical or logical local access to the system, meaning remote attackers cannot leverage this flaw unless they have already compromised a user account on the target host.
Mitigation strategies primarily involve applying vendor-provided patches that update the GPU display driver to versions where these authorization checks are properly enforced. System administrators should ensure that NVIDIA drivers are kept up-to-date across all endpoints in their environment, particularly those running Windows and Linux distributions known to be affected. Additionally, implementing strict user privilege policies can reduce the attack surface by limiting which local accounts have the ability to load or interact with kernel-mode components. Monitoring for unusual GPU resource usage patterns may also help detect potential exploitation attempts before significant data exfiltration occurs.