GIGABYTE Multiple Products Privilege Escalation Vulnerability (CVE-2018-19321)
Published In CISA KEV since Sources: CVE.org
What is affected, what to do
The GPCIDrv and GDrv low-level drivers in GIGABYTE APP Center v1.05.21 and earlier, AORUS GRAPHICS ENGINE before 1.57, XTREME GAMING ENGINE before 1.26, and OC GURU II v2.08 expose functionality to read and write arbitrary physical memory. This could be leveraged by a local attacker to elevate privileges.
The vulnerability is being actively exploited; treat it as a priority. CISA lists it as used in ransomware campaigns. Update Gigabyte Aorus Graphics Engine to version 1.57, Gigabyte App Center to version 19.0422.1, Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming Engine to version 1.26. Immediate actions, mitigation and detection rules are in the runbook below.
- Affected
- Gigabyte Aorus Graphics Engine
lt *..1.57 - Gigabyte App Center
lt *..19.0422.1 - Gigabyte OC Guru II
eq 2.08..2.08 - Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming Engine
lt *..1.26
- Gigabyte Aorus Graphics Engine
- Fixed in
- Gigabyte Aorus Graphics Engine
1.57 - Gigabyte App Center
19.0422.1 - Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming Engine
1.26
- Gigabyte Aorus Graphics Engine
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Metrics
7.8
Priority
XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.
Source: NVD, CVSS v3
7.8
CVSS v3
Severity High on the scale from 0 to 10.
Source: CVE.org
3.7 %
EPSS score
Moderate — model estimates 1-10% exploitation likelihood.
Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 89.7
Show all metrics
- Severity
- Critical
Priority (0–325)
The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?
Read in glossary- 228.43 Methodology
Exploit maturity
An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.
Read in glossary- actively exploited
XIEM Effective CVSS
XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.
Read in glossary- 7.8 Methodology
CVSS v3
CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.
Read in glossary- 7.8
EPSS score
The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.
Read in glossary- 3.7 %
- Moderate — model estimates 1-10% exploitation likelihood.
EPSS percentile
The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.
Read in glossary- 89.7
- Critical — this CVE ranks in the top fifth of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 80%).
KEV status
The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.
Read in glossary- Actively exploited
- Published
In CISA KEV since
The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.
Read in glossary- CISA assessment (SSVC)
- Exploitation: active · not automatable · Technical impact: total
- Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 27 October 2022
Response and mitigation
Why act now?
Prioritisation rationale
The flaw gives a low-privileged local user full read/write access to physical memory without any user interaction. Its real value to attackers, however, lies in BYOVD: after initial access, adversaries bring this legitimately signed driver along to bypass kernel protections and blind security tooling. CISA explicitly flags known ransomware use, and exploitation likelihood is elevated compared with most local bugs. Because the attacker supplies the driver themselves, "we don't run GIGABYTE software" offers no protection. The priority action is therefore fleet-wide driver blocklisting and the ASR rule on every Windows host, not just removing the software. For NIS2/KRITIS environments with ransomware exposure, rate this high.
Runbook step 1
Immediate response (0-24 h)
- Inventory: Sweep all Windows endpoints via EDR or software inventory for
gdrv.sysandGPCIDrv.sys/GPCIDrv64.sys(checkC:\Windows\System32\drivers\and GIGABYTE install directories). Also look for APP Center, AORUS Graphics Engine, XTREME Gaming Engine and OC GURU II. Flag any kernel service whose binary sits in%TEMP%,%APPDATA%orC:\Users\Public\. - Uninstall rather than patch where possible: GIGABYTE tuning and RGB utilities are rarely business-critical on corporate clients or servers. Remove the products and their driver services (
sc stop <svc>/sc delete <svc>, delete the driver file, reboot). OC GURU II v2.08 has no known fixed release, so remove it entirely. - Update only where the tool is genuinely needed: NVD lists APP Center v1.05.21 and earlier, AORUS Graphics Engine before 1.57, XTREME Gaming Engine before 1.26 and OC GURU II v2.08 as affected. The affected-products list also names 1.57/1.26 explicitly. A patch is available from the vendor — check the vendor advisory for the exact fixed version, and confirm that the old driver is actually replaced or removed after rollout.
- Treat orphan hits as a compromise indicator: If
gdrv.sysis present on a host without GIGABYTE software, or was registered as a service recently, isolate the host and start forensic triage. This is the classic BYOVD (bring-your-own-vulnerable-driver) pattern: the driver is dropped in order to kill EDR/AV processes from kernel mode. - Verify security tooling health: On affected hosts, confirm that EDR/AV services are running and reporting. A sudden telemetry gap combined with a driver hit should be handled as a critical incident.
- Inventory: Sweep all Windows endpoints via EDR or software inventory for
Runbook step 2
Mitigation layers
- Endpoint hardening – driver blocklist: Enable the Microsoft Vulnerable Driver Blocklist (Windows Security → Device security → Core isolation, or via WDAC policy). Deploy the Defender ASR rule "Block abuse of exploited vulnerable signed drivers" (GUID
56a863a9-875e-4185-98a7-b882c64b5ce5) in audit mode first, then switch it to block. - Code integrity: Enforce HVCI (memory integrity) on capable hardware. Add a WDAC deny rule for the GIGABYTE drivers (hash or signer/filename rule) and push it via Intune or GPO.
- IAM / least privilege: Loading a driver requires admin rights (
SeLoadDriverPrivilege). Strip local admin rights, deploy LAPS and alert on changes to local Administrators group membership. This breaks the "low-priv user → admin → kernel" chain. - Application control: Block consumer vendor utilities (gaming, overclocking and RGB tools) via AppLocker/WDAC and the software catalogue. Prioritise developer and CAD workstations built on consumer motherboards or GPUs.
- Segmentation: This flaw is a local step within a wider attack chain. Limit lateral movement (block client-to-client SMB/RDP/WinRM and enforce admin tiering) so that kernel access on one host cannot become domain-wide ransomware deployment.
- Endpoint hardening – driver blocklist: Enable the Microsoft Vulnerable Driver Blocklist (Windows Security → Device security → Core isolation, or via WDAC policy). Deploy the Defender ASR rule "Block abuse of exploited vulnerable signed drivers" (GUID
Runbook step 3
Detection rules
- Sysmon EID 6 (Driver loaded): Sigma shape
ImageLoaded|endswith: ['\gdrv.sys','\GPCIDrv.sys','\GPCIDrv64.sys']. Also alert on signer "GIGA-BYTE TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD." when it loads from an unusual path. - Service install: System Event ID 7045 or Security Event ID 4697 where the service type is a kernel-mode driver and the ImagePath points to a user or temp directory. The process chain
cmd.exe/powershell.exe → sc.exe create … type= kernelshould raise an alert. - KQL (Defender for Endpoint):
DeviceEvents | where ActionType == "DriverLoad" | where FileName in~ ("gdrv.sys","GPCIDrv.sys","GPCIDrv64.sys") | project Timestamp, DeviceName, FolderPath, InitiatingProcessFileName - Code integrity / ASR: Microsoft-Windows-CodeIntegrity/Operational Event ID 3076 (audit) or 3077 (block), plus ASR events for the driver rule. Any hit indicates an attempted load.
- Follow-on behaviour: Watch for EDR/AV processes terminated or stopped shortly after the driver load, and for gaps in agent heartbeat. These are typically followed by mass file renames and
vssadmin delete shadowsorwbadmin delete catalog. Correlate these events in a 30-minute window in the SIEM.
- Sysmon EID 6 (Driver loaded): Sigma shape
Detection rules
No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.
Classification under NIS2 and CRA
Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.
NIS2
NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.
Read in glossary- Actively exploited: treat the vulnerability as a priority in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2. If it is exploited in your environment, check the reporting obligation under Art. 23 (early warning within 24 hours).
CRA
The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.
Read in glossary- Since 11.09.2026, manufacturers of affected products with digital elements must report actively exploited vulnerabilities under Art. 14 CRA, with an early warning within 24 hours via ENISA's single reporting platform.
ISO/IEC 27001
ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.
Read in glossary- Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.
Description
The GPCIDrv and GDrv low-level drivers in GIGABYTE APP Center v1.05.21 and earlier, AORUS GRAPHICS ENGINE before 1.57, XTREME GAMING ENGINE before 1.26, and OC GURU II v2.08 expose functionality to read and write arbitrary physical memory. This could be leveraged by a local attacker to elevate privileges.
Source: CISA KEV Catalog, cvelistv5, NVD (NIST)
Affected products
The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.
| Affected versions | Fixed in | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| gigabyte | aorus_graphics_engine |
|
|
| gigabyte | app_center |
|
|
| gigabyte | oc_guru_ii |
|
|
| gigabyte | xtreme_gaming_engine |
|
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Vendors and products
Public exploit references
Publicly reported proof-of-concepts, exploit modules and detection templates for this vulnerability. NEOSEC links to the original sources only and does not provide any exploit code.
| CISA KEV Catalog | CISA Known Exploited Vulnerability (opens in a new tab)cisa.gov | actively exploited |
References & sources
- seclists.org20181221 [CORE-2018-0007] - GIGABYTE Driver Elevation of Privilege VulnerabilitiesMailing list, x_refsource_FULLDISC
- secureauth.comlabs/advisories/gigabyte-drivers-elevation-privilege-vulnerabil…x_refsource_MISC
- securityfocus.com106252Vulnerability database, x_refsource_BID
- gigabyte.comSupport/Security/1801x_refsource_CONFIRM
- cisa.govknown-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2018-19321government-resource
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<a href="https://intel.neosec.eu/en/cve/CVE-2018-19321"><img src="https://intel.neosec.eu/badge/cve/CVE-2018-19321.svg?lang=en" alt="CVE-2018-19321 – NEOSEC Intel" height="20"></a>