NVIDIA Windows GPU Display Driver (nvlddmkm.sys): The driver loads Windows system DLLs without validating path

Impact

The driver loads Windows system DLLs without validating path or signature. A local user who can write to a searched directory gets code execution in a privileged NVIDIA process.

Who can reach it

Any local user with write access to a directory in the driver process's DLL search path.

What to do

Install the fixed Windows GPU Display Driver branch listed in the NVIDIA bulletin. nvlddmkm.sys is a kernel driver: the swap needs a host reboot, so on a Windows GPU node this is a drain-and-reboot, not a live driver reload. No VBIOS or BMC flash involved.

References