# CVE-2012-4225: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can exploit the NVIDIA UNIX graphics driver to write to arbitrary physical memory and gain elevated privileges.

- **Severity:** High 7.2 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 19 Nov 2012
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2012-4225, GHSA-6f8h-gp84-3439

## What is CVE-2012-4225?

CVE-2012-4225 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 19 Nov 2012. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

NVIDIA UNIX graphics driver before 295.71 and before 304.32 allows local users to write to arbitrary physical memory locations and gain privileges by modifying the VGA window using /dev/nvidia0.

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-4225?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Nvidia Unix Graphic Driver.

## How do I fix CVE-2012-4225?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2012-4225 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-4225 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2012-4225 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2012-4225 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 19 Nov 2012. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-4225 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-4225/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-4225/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2012-4225
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-4225
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2012-4225

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-4225/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.