CVE-2026-49745 in Graphics DDK
Summary
by MITRE • 07/24/2026
Kernel software installed and running inside a Guest VM may post improper commands to the GPU Firmware to trigger a write of data outside the Guest's virtualised GPU memory.
Software installed and run under a Guest VM can send commands to the GPU which result in out of bounds memory accesses. These can be used to escalate privileges.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/24/2026
This vulnerability represents a critical privilege escalation flaw within virtualized graphics environments where guest operating systems can manipulate GPU firmware through improperly validated commands. The issue stems from insufficient input validation and memory boundary checks within the kernel software that manages GPU interactions between the guest VM and underlying hardware. When a guest VM executes malicious GPU commands, the kernel fails to properly validate memory addresses or command parameters, allowing unauthorized access beyond the designated virtualized GPU memory boundaries.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability leverages the fundamental architecture of virtualized graphics processing units where the hypervisor must mediate all GPU operations between guest environments and physical hardware components. When guest software issues commands to the GPU firmware, these commands traverse through kernel drivers that should enforce strict memory access controls and boundary validations. However, the absence of proper bounds checking allows attackers to craft malicious command sequences that cause the GPU firmware to write data beyond allocated memory regions, effectively bypassing virtualization security boundaries.
This vulnerability directly impacts system integrity and confidentiality by enabling privilege escalation attacks that can elevate guest VM processes to host-level privileges. The operational consequences extend beyond simple privilege elevation as attackers can potentially extract sensitive information from other VMs running on the same physical host, compromise the hypervisor itself, or establish persistent backdoors within the virtualized environment. The attack surface becomes particularly dangerous in multi-tenant cloud environments where isolation between different customers' workloads is paramount for security.
From a cybersecurity perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-129 and CWE-787 categories related to improper input validation and out-of-bounds memory access respectively. The ATT&CK framework would classify this under privilege escalation techniques using virtualization flaws, specifically T1055.013 for kernel exploitation and T1068 for local privilege escalation. Mitigation strategies should focus on implementing comprehensive input validation within GPU command processing pipelines, enforcing strict memory boundary checks, and deploying hypervisor-level protections that monitor and restrict GPU access patterns from guest environments. Additionally, regular security updates to kernel drivers and firmware components, along with proper virtualization security configuration practices, are essential to prevent exploitation of these vulnerabilities in production environments.