Analysis of PGRHostControl.sys: suspicious verdict, risk score 58/100. 1 YARA match, 3/75 multi-engine detections. SHA256 4b0e9834dd672e4c. Kernel imports, IOCTL codes, MITRE ATT&CK, and code-signing details.
DriverShield analyzed the Windows kernel driver PGRHostControl.sys and assigned a verdict of Suspicious with a composite risk score of 58/100, indicating some risk signals warranting review (30-59 band).
| Verdict | Suspicious (58/100) |
| YARA matches | 1 |
| Multi-engine detections | 3 / 75 |
| File size | 24824 bytes |
| Code-signing signer | Symantec Time Stamping Services CA - G2 |
| Analyzed | 2026-09-06 |
| SHA256 | 4b0e9834dd672e4ce81464d8887c71f9a0942140557cd0ad321da9a1aa849959 |
| SHA1 | 8d733095ac1cfcd799f58be3b8a25800f31e6fe2 |
| MD5 | f0e46578a7fed41c88ec64fdc11d2a72 |
Version resource data embedded in the PGRHostControl.sys PE header, as extracted by the analysis engine.
| File description | PGRHostControl Driver |
|---|---|
| Product | PGRHostControl.sys |
| Company | Point Grey Research |
| Original filename | PGRHostControl.sys |
| Internal name | PGRHostControl.sys |
| File version | 2, 7, 0, 0 |
| Copyright | Copyright (c) Point Grey Research. All rights reserved. |
Each component is scored 0-100 and then weighted into the composite. See the analysis methodology for the exact formula.
| Component | Sub-score |
|---|---|
| Multi-engine consensus | 0 / 100 |
| YARA signature matches | 5 / 100 |
| Dangerous kernel imports | 78 / 100 |
| IOCTL dispatch surface | 12 / 100 |
| Known-vulnerable corpus | 100 / 100 |
| Code-signing state | 80 / 100 |
| Packing and entropy | 0 / 100 |
| Dynamic behaviour | 0 / 100 |
| CVE cross-reference | 0 / 100 |
Kernel-mode APIs resolved from the Import Address Table of PGRHostControl.sys, ranked by exploitation relevance.
| API | Risk | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| ZwMapViewOfSection | critical | Highly dangerous - potential for arbitrary code execution, memory corruption, or process termination |
| KeBugCheckEx | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| ObReferenceObjectByHandle | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| IoDeleteSymbolicLink | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| IoDeleteDevice | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| IoCreateDevice | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| IofCompleteRequest | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| IoCreateSymbolicLink | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| RtlInitUnicodeString | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| ZwClose | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
Control codes reachable through the driver dispatch routine. Codes tied to published exploit code are flagged, since they are the primary Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) entry points.
| Code | Severity | Transfer | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0x002200F0 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | FILE_DEVICE_UNKNOWN Function #60 |
| 0x008010B9 | medium | METHOD_IN_DIRECT | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #1070 |
| 0x00808789 | medium | METHOD_IN_DIRECT | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #482 |
| 0x00340378 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | FILE_DEVICE_DISK Function #222 |
Section layout and Shannon entropy. High entropy in a code section is a packing or encryption indicator.
| Section | Virtual size | Raw size | Entropy | Flags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| .text | 0x0A5E | 0x0C00 | 5.59 | CODE, EXEC, READ |
| .rdata | 0x026C | 0x0400 | 2.21 | IDATA, READ |
| .data | 0x0010 | 0x0200 | 0.28 | IDATA, READ, WRITE |
| .pdata | 0x0078 | 0x0200 | 1.04 | IDATA, READ |
| INIT | 0x028E | 0x0400 | 3.79 | CODE, EXEC, READ, DISCARD |
| .rsrc | 0x03D8 | 0x0400 | 3.17 | IDATA, READ, DISCARD |
| .reloc | 0x0010 | 0x0200 | 0.14 | IDATA, READ, DISCARD |
| Control Flow Guard | Not enabled |
|---|---|
| ASLR | Enabled |
| DEP | Enabled |
| Integrity check | Not enforced |
| Mitigation score | 55 / 100 |
| Rule | Severity | Detects |
|---|---|---|
| PUA_VULN_Driver_Pointgreyresearch_Pgrhostcontrolsys_Pgrhostcontrolsys_4B0E | medium | Detects vulnerable driver mentioned in known-vulnerable driver corpus project using VersionInfo values from the PE header - PGRHostControl.sys. Investigate matches in context: expected filenames or st... |
Techniques this driver could enable if loaded by an adversary.
| ID | Technique | Tactic |
|---|---|---|
| T1003.001 | OS Credential Dumping: LSASS Memory | Credential Access |
| T1055.012 | Process Hollowing | Defense Evasion |
| T1068 | Exploitation for Privilege Escalation | Privilege Escalation |
| T1071 | Application Layer Protocol | Command and Control |
| T1543.003 | Windows Service | Persistence |
| T1562.001 | Impair Defenses | Defense Evasion |
| T1569.002 | Service Execution | Execution |
| T1652 | Device Driver Discovery | Discovery |
| Signer | Symantec Time Stamping Services CA - G2 |
|---|---|
| Signer organisation | Symantec Corporation |
| Issuer | Thawte Timestamping CA |
| Serial | 7E93EBFB7CC64E59EA4B9A77D406FC3B |
| Valid from | 2012-12-21 00:00 UTC |
| Valid until | 2020-12-30 23:59 UTC (expired) |
| Signature validity | Not verified |
Engine angr, status completed, 19 paths explored at a maximum depth of 19. Vulnerability classes reached: 1. Exploitable paths: 0.
Corpus match: this hash is present in the known-vulnerable driver corpus DriverShield cross-references during analysis, which is why the score carries a full weighting on that component.
Based on DriverShield static and dynamic analysis, PGRHostControl.sys shows some suspicious signals and warrants manual review. Its composite risk score is 58/100 (verdict: suspicious). Always validate findings independently before acting.
PGRHostControl.sys has a DriverShield composite risk score of 58/100, placing it in the suspicious verdict band. SHA256: 4b0e9834dd672e4ce81464d8887c71f9a0942140557cd0ad321da9a1aa849959.
PGRHostControl.sys is a Windows kernel-mode driver (.sys) analyzed by DriverShield for vulnerabilities, BYOVD abuse potential, and malware indicators. It is code-signed by Symantec Time Stamping Services CA - G2.
Related: Other drivers signed by Symantec Time Stamping Services CA - G2 · What an IOCTL dispatch code is · How YARA matching feeds the score · BYOVD research index · full driver database · CVE library · code signing atlas