Analysis of HW.sys: vulnerable verdict, risk score 78/100. 4 YARA matches, 17/76 multi-engine detections. SHA256 6a4875ae86131a59. Kernel imports, IOCTL codes, MITRE ATT&CK, and code-signing details.
DriverShield analyzed the Windows kernel driver HW.sys and assigned a verdict of Vulnerable with a composite risk score of 78/100, indicating a known or likely vulnerability surface (60-79 band).
| Verdict | Vulnerable (78/100) |
| YARA matches | 4 |
| Multi-engine detections | 17 / 76 |
| File size | 42976 bytes |
| Code-signing signer | GlobalSign Timestamping CA - G2 |
| Analyzed | 2026-09-06 |
| SHA256 | 6a4875ae86131a594019dec4abd46ac6ba47e57a88287b814d07d929858fe3e5 |
| SHA1 | 4e56e0b1d12664c05615c69697a2f5c5d893058a |
| MD5 | 45c2d133d41d2732f3653ed615a745c8 |
Version resource data embedded in the HW.sys PE header, as extracted by the analysis engine.
| File description | HW - Windows NT-8 (32/64 bit) kernel mode driver for PC ports/memory/PCI access |
|---|---|
| Product | HW |
| Company | Marvin Test Solutions, Inc. |
| Original filename | HW.sys |
| Internal name | Hw.sys |
| File version | 4.8.2.0 |
| Copyright | Copyright © 1996-2015 Marvin Test Solutions, Inc. 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 | 90 / 100 |
| Dangerous kernel imports | 100 / 100 |
| IOCTL dispatch surface | 36 / 100 |
| Known-vulnerable corpus | 100 / 100 |
| Code-signing state | 0 / 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 HW.sys, ranked by exploitation relevance.
| API | Risk | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| MmMapLockedPages | critical | Highly dangerous - potential for arbitrary code execution, memory corruption, or process termination |
| MmMapIoSpace | critical | Highly dangerous - potential for arbitrary code execution, memory corruption, or process termination |
| ZwMapViewOfSection | critical | Highly dangerous - potential for arbitrary code execution, memory corruption, or process termination |
| ZwOpenProcess | high | Potentially dangerous - could be used for privilege escalation or security bypass |
| MmGetPhysicalAddress | high | Potentially dangerous - could be used for privilege escalation or security bypass |
| MmAllocateContiguousMemory | high | Potentially dangerous - could be used for privilege escalation or security bypass |
| MmGetSystemRoutineAddress | high | Potentially dangerous - could be used for privilege escalation or security bypass |
| HalGetBusDataByOffset | high | Potentially dangerous - could be used for privilege escalation or security bypass |
| MmUnmapIoSpace | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| ObReferenceObjectByHandle | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| IofCompleteRequest | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| IoCreateSymbolicLink | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| IoDeleteDevice | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| IoDeleteSymbolicLink | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| ExAllocatePool | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| KeInitializeEvent | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| ExAllocatePoolWithTag | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| RtlInitUnicodeString | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| KeWaitForSingleObject | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| KeSetEvent | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| IoCreateDevice | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0x00227883 | high | METHOD_NEITHER | FILE_DEVICE_UNKNOWN Function #3616 |
| 0x0080888B | high | METHOD_NEITHER | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #546 |
| 0x00802484 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #2337 |
| 0x0080248C | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #2339 |
| 0x9C406500 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | CUSTOM_LENOVO Function #2368 |
| 0x9C40A440 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | CUSTOM_LENOVO Function #2320 |
| 0x9C406544 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | CUSTOM_LENOVO Function #2385 |
| 0x9C40A584 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | CUSTOM_LENOVO Function #2401 |
| 0x9C40A5C0 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | CUSTOM_LENOVO Function #2416 |
| 0x00802494 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #2341 |
| 0x003403A4 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | FILE_DEVICE_DISK Function #233 |
| 0x00340036 | medium | METHOD_OUT_DIRECT | FILE_DEVICE_DISK Function #13 |
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 | 0x3694 | 0x3800 | 5.41 | CODE, EXEC, READ |
| INIT | 0x2151 | 0x2200 | 5.07 | CODE, EXEC, READ |
| .rdata | 0x0AEC | 0x0C00 | 4.27 | IDATA, READ |
| .pdata | 0x0318 | 0x0400 | 3.26 | IDATA, READ |
| .rsrc | 0x049C | 0x0600 | 4.16 | IDATA, READ, DISCARD |
| Control Flow Guard | Not enabled |
|---|---|
| ASLR | Not enabled |
| DEP | Not enabled |
| Integrity check | Not enforced |
| Mitigation score | 20 / 100 |
| Rule | Severity | Detects |
|---|---|---|
| PUA_VULN_Driver_Marvintestsolutionsinc_Hwsys_Hw_6A48 | medium | Detects vulnerable driver mentioned in known-vulnerable driver corpus project using VersionInfo values from the PE header - hw.sys. Investigate matches in context: expected filenames or standard vendo... |
| PUA_VULN_Driver_Marvintestsolutionsinc_Hwsys_Hw_FD38 | medium | Detects vulnerable driver mentioned in known-vulnerable driver corpus project using VersionInfo values from the PE header - HW.sys |
| BYOVD_MemRW | critical | Phys memory mapping + device creation |
| SUSP_PhysMem | high | Physical memory mapping |
Techniques this driver could enable if loaded by an adversary.
| ID | Technique | Tactic |
|---|---|---|
| T1003 | OS Credential Dumping | Credential Access |
| T1003.001 | OS Credential Dumping: LSASS Memory | Credential Access |
| T1006 | Direct Volume Access | Defense Evasion |
| T1014 | Rootkit | Defense Evasion |
| T1055.001 | Process Injection: DLL Injection | Defense Evasion |
| T1055.012 | Process Hollowing | Defense Evasion |
| T1068 | Exploitation for Privilege Escalation | Privilege Escalation |
| T1071 | Application Layer Protocol | Command and Control |
| T1211 | Exploitation for Defense Evasion | Defense Evasion |
| T1489 | Service Stop | Impact |
| T1542.001 | Pre-OS Boot: System Firmware | Persistence |
| T1543.003 | Windows Service | Persistence |
| T1553.002 | Subvert Trust Controls: Code Signing | Defense Evasion |
| T1562.001 | Impair Defenses | Defense Evasion |
| T1569.002 | Service Execution | Execution |
| T1601 | Modify System Image | Defense Evasion |
| T1652 | Device Driver Discovery | Discovery |
| Signer | GlobalSign Timestamping CA - G2 |
|---|---|
| Signer organisation | GlobalSign nv-sa |
| Issuer | GlobalSign Root CA |
| Serial | 400000000012F4EE152D7 |
| Valid from | 2011-04-13 10:00 UTC |
| Valid until | 2028-01-28 12:00 UTC |
| Signature validity | Verified |
Engine angr, status completed, 100 paths explored at a maximum depth of 100. 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, HW.sys is flagged as vulnerable and is a potential Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) risk. Its composite risk score is 78/100 (verdict: vulnerable). Always validate findings independently before acting.
HW.sys has a DriverShield composite risk score of 78/100, placing it in the vulnerable verdict band. SHA256: 6a4875ae86131a594019dec4abd46ac6ba47e57a88287b814d07d929858fe3e5.
HW.sys is a Windows kernel-mode driver (.sys) analyzed by DriverShield for vulnerabilities, BYOVD abuse potential, and malware indicators. It is code-signed by GlobalSign Timestamping CA - G2.
Related: Other drivers signed by GlobalSign Timestamping 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