CVE-2023-31027

Privilege escalation via uncontrolled search path

Published Nov 2, 2023 · Updated Sep 12, 2024

Privilege escalation in NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows allows local users to gain elevated privileges during an administrator update. NVIDIA identifies an uncontrolled search path element but does not disclose the affected file, function, or path-resolution operation. Exploitation requires low-privileged local access and user interaction from an administrator updating the driver, and it grants elevated privileges.

CVSS severity8.2
High
EPSS probability0.20%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Privilege escalation in NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows allows local users to gain elevated privileges during an administrator update. NVIDIA identifies an uncontrolled search path element but does not disclose the affected file, function, or path-resolution operation. Exploitation requires low-privileged local access and user interaction from an administrator updating the driver, and it grants elevated privileges.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-31027
Published
Nov 2, 2023
Updated
Sep 12, 2024
Vendor
DPDK Project
Product
NVIDIA GPU Display Driver
Classifications
CWE-427, T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Nov 2, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 12, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=0 <=16.1
  2. Affected versionversion=0 <=September2023
  3. Affected versionversion=All versions prior to and including 13.8, 15.3, 16.1 and all versions prior to and including September 2023 release

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

DPDK Project · NVIDIA GPU Display Driverversion=0 <=16.1; version=0 <=September2023; version=All versions prior to and including 13.8, 15.3, 16.1 and all versions prior to and including September 2023 release

Published CVSS scores

8.2NVIDIA CorporationCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
7.3NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-427Uncontrolled Search Path Element
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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