You should regularly check that your Windows version is up to date, update your games, and get the latest game drivers, but if you haven’t, now’s your chance. Some vulnerabilities have been discovered in previous versions of Nvidia’s GPU display drivers, but this is nothing to worry about if you’ve updated from an older one.
As first spotted by Igor’s Lab, this concerns a driver update published on October 22nd. In its latest security bulletin, Nvidia said previous versions of the driver had eight high-severity risks, all of which had “escalations.” In addition to the effects of “privilege”, there are a number of other potential problems as well.
The base score is 8.2 (which is very high) and the most severe issue is CVE ID 2024-0126. This indicates that the previous driver “has a vulnerability that could allow a privileged attacker to escalate permissions.” Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could result in the following risks: From code execution, denial of service, privilege escalation, information disclosure, and data tampering. ”
Six of the other risks had a score of 7.8, and the last risk had a score of 7.1. Therefore, all of these fixes are high priority. That said, all vulnerabilities have low exploitability and require local access to the GPU. In other words, they’re potentially bad, but they’re fine if no one can actually log into your PC and use it.
If you’ve updated your game drivers since October 22nd, you’re protected from these vulnerabilities, but if you haven’t done so already, there are several ways to do so. If you don’t want to download additional software, just visit the Nvidia drivers page, search for your specific card, and get the drivers you need. However, if you don’t mind adding additional software to your PC, we recommend giving the Nvidia app a try.
Released in beta earlier this year, the software provides all the latest drivers for your specific rig, graphics settings for all your games, a place to redeem Nvidia codes, and an overview of your system. I’ll explain briefly. Download beta versions and get the latest drivers by simply clicking on the Drivers tab and Download All.
Driver maintenance is an important part for PC users, and these vulnerabilities are just a good reminder to check regularly. While the latest games may offer even better graphics driver performance, this is a PSA to remind you that regular updates can also help keep your precious PC safe.
