NVIDIA NVFlash / NVUFlash / GPUModeSwitch kernel driver (nvflash.sys, nvflsh32/64.sys): NVIDIA's signed flashing driver
Impact
NVIDIA's signed flashing driver hands an administrator raw access to device memory and registers of arbitrary PCIe devices - including hardware NVIDIA does not own. That is a general-purpose physical-memory and device-register primitive wrapped in a legitimately signed driver, so it defeats driver signature enforcement and lets an admin (or malware that reached admin) reach across to the BMC, NICs, NVMe and other tenants' passthrough devices on the same host. Even on hosts that never flashed a GPU, its presence is a lasting bring-your-own-vulnerable-driver weapon.
Who can reach it
An authenticated administrator on the host, or any code that reached admin - which is exactly the boundary a signed kernel driver is supposed to hold.
What to do
Update NVFlash/NVUFlash to 5.588.0 or later and GPUModeSwitch to the 2019-11 build, and remove the old nvflash.sys / nvflsh32.sys / nvflsh64.sys drivers from every host they were ever installed on. These are flashing tools, not runtime components: the durable fix is to keep the signed vulnerable driver off production hosts entirely and add its hashes to your driver blocklist, since it is a bring-your-own-vulnerable-driver primitive independent of NVIDIA. Removing the driver needs a reboot; no GPU firmware flash.
References
Related entries
- NVIDIA DGX A100 - SBIOS / SMM firmware: An out-of-bounds write in the SmbiosPei module gives a highly privileged localCVE-2022-31601 · NVIDIA DGX A100 - SBIOS / SMM firmwareMedium
- NVIDIA DGX A100 - SBIOS / SMM firmware: An out-of-bounds write in the FsRecovery module reaches firmware code executionCVE-2022-42281 · NVIDIA DGX A100 - SBIOS / SMM firmwareMedium
- GPU Display Driver: DoS / data tampering (integer underflow)CVE-2023-0185 · GPU Display DriverMedium
- NVIDIA DGX-2 - SBIOS / SMM firmware: An out-of-bounds write in the Bds phase gives a privileged local user firmwareCVE-2023-0201 · NVIDIA DGX-2 - SBIOS / SMM firmwareMedium
- NVIDIA ConnectX / BlueField: Privilege escalation leading to arbitrary code execution via the management interfaceCVE-2025-23299 · NVIDIA ConnectX / BlueFieldMedium
- HGX / DGX GB200, GB300, B300 (BMC -> HMC): BMC admin can pivot to the HMC as administratorCVE-2025-23337 · HGX / DGX GB200, GB300, B300 (BMC -> HMC)Medium
This entry is curated: imported from vendor advisories with machine assistance, not yet individually verified. Confirm against your vendor's advisory before acting, and report anything wrong.