# CVE-2015-7866: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can gain elevated privileges by exploiting an unquoted search path in the NVIDIA Control Panel helper executable.

- **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:** No
- **Published:** 24 Nov 2015
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-3qqc-5rvx-mv66

## What is CVE-2015-7866?

CVE-2015-7866 is a high-severity vulnerability in Nvidia Gpu Driver, published on 24 Nov 2015. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Unquoted Windows search path vulnerability in the Smart Maximize Helper (nvSmartMaxApp.exe) in the Control Panel in the NVIDIA GPU graphics driver R340 before 341.92, R352 before 354.35, and R358 before 358.87 on Windows allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse application, as demonstrated by C:\Program.exe.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2015-7866?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Nvidia Gpu Driver.

## How do I fix CVE-2015-7866?

No fix has been published for CVE-2015-7866 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2015-7866 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-7866 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Nvidia Gpu Driver

- [CVE-2019-5684](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5684/): Memory corruption in GPU Display Driver (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2015-5053](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5053/): Privilege escalation in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2013-5986](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-5986/): Other in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2019-5685](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5685/): Memory corruption in GPU Display Driver (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2018-6247](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6247/): Null dereference in GPU Display Driver (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2015-7866 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2015-7866 is a high-severity vulnerability in Nvidia Gpu Driver, published on 24 Nov 2015. 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-2015-7866 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Nvidia Gpu Driver. 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-2015-7866/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-7866/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-7866
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-7866
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2015-7866

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-7866/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.