Analysis of ThrottleStop.sys: vulnerable verdict, risk score 72/100. 3 YARA matches, 17/75 multi-engine detections. SHA256 16f83f056177c4ec. Kernel imports, IOCTL codes, MITRE ATT&CK, and code-signing details.
DriverShield analyzed the Windows kernel driver ThrottleStop.sys and assigned a verdict of Vulnerable with a composite risk score of 72/100, indicating a known or likely vulnerability surface (60-79 band).
| Verdict | Vulnerable (72/100) |
| YARA matches | 3 |
| Multi-engine detections | 17 / 75 |
| File size | 50216 bytes |
| Code-signing signer | DigiCert High Assurance EV Root CA |
| Analyzed | 2026-09-06 |
| SHA256 | 16f83f056177c4ec24c7e99d01ca9d9d6713bd0497eeedb777a3ffefa99c97f0 |
| SHA1 | 82ed942a52cdcf120a8919730e00ba37619661a3 |
| MD5 | 6bc8e3505d9f51368ddf323acb6abc49 |
Version resource data embedded in the ThrottleStop.sys PE header, as extracted by the analysis engine.
| File description | Low-Level Driver |
|---|---|
| Product | Low-Level Driver |
| File version | 3.0.0.0 |
| Copyright | Copyright 2004-2020 (c). 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 | 85 / 100 |
| Dangerous kernel imports | 100 / 100 |
| IOCTL dispatch surface | 15 / 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 ThrottleStop.sys, ranked by exploitation relevance.
| API | Risk | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| MmMapLockedPagesSpecifyCache | 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 |
| 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 |
| HalSetBusDataByOffset | high | Potentially dangerous - could be used for privilege escalation or security bypass |
| ZwCreateKey | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| MmUnmapIoSpace | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| ZwSetValueKey | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| ObOpenObjectByPointer | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| KeBugCheckEx | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| ExAllocatePoolWithTag | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| DbgPrint | 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 |
| IoCreateDeviceSecure | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| ZwOpenKey | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| IofCompleteRequest | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| IoDeleteSymbolicLink | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| ZwQueryValueKey | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| IoCreateDevice | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| IoDeleteDevice | 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 |
| 0x00802494 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #2341 |
| 0x0080007E | medium | METHOD_OUT_DIRECT | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #31 |
| 0x00340030 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | FILE_DEVICE_DISK Function #12 |
| 0x00340250 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | FILE_DEVICE_DISK Function #148 |
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 | 0x15B1 | 0x1600 | 6.13 | CODE, EXEC, READ |
| .rdata | 0x0F04 | 0x1000 | 4.34 | IDATA, READ |
| .data | 0x2240 | 0x0200 | 2.06 | IDATA, READ, WRITE |
| .pdata | 0x02C4 | 0x0400 | 3.12 | IDATA, READ |
| PAGE | 0x1987 | 0x1A00 | 6.2 | CODE, EXEC, READ |
| INIT | 0x0696 | 0x0800 | 4.34 | CODE, EXEC, READ, DISCARD |
| .rsrc | 0x02B0 | 0x0400 | 2.31 | IDATA, READ, DISCARD |
| .reloc | 0x0030 | 0x0200 | 0.64 | 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_Lowleveldriver_16F8 | medium | Detects vulnerable driver mentioned in known-vulnerable driver corpus project using VersionInfo values from the PE header - throttlestop.sys. Investigate matches in context: expected filenames or stan... |
| 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 |
| T1055.012 | Process Hollowing | Defense Evasion |
| T1068 | Exploitation for Privilege Escalation | Privilege Escalation |
| T1071 | Application Layer Protocol | Command and Control |
| T1112 | Modify Registry | Defense Evasion |
| T1211 | Exploitation for Defense Evasion | Defense Evasion |
| T1542.001 | Pre-OS Boot: System Firmware | Persistence |
| T1543.003 | Windows Service | Persistence |
| T1547.001 | Registry Run Keys | 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 | DigiCert High Assurance EV Root CA |
|---|---|
| Signer organisation | DigiCert Inc |
| Issuer | Microsoft Code Verification Root |
| Serial | 61204DB4000000000027 |
| Valid from | 2011-04-15 19:45 UTC |
| Valid until | 2021-04-15 19:55 UTC (expired) |
| Signature validity | Not verified |
Engine angr, status static_approximation, 0 paths explored at a maximum depth of 0. Vulnerability classes reached: 0. 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, ThrottleStop.sys is flagged as vulnerable and is a potential Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) risk. Its composite risk score is 72/100 (verdict: vulnerable). Always validate findings independently before acting.
ThrottleStop.sys has a DriverShield composite risk score of 72/100, placing it in the vulnerable verdict band. SHA256: 16f83f056177c4ec24c7e99d01ca9d9d6713bd0497eeedb777a3ffefa99c97f0.
ThrottleStop.sys is a Windows kernel-mode driver (.sys) analyzed by DriverShield for vulnerabilities, BYOVD abuse potential, and malware indicators. It is code-signed by DigiCert High Assurance EV Root CA.
Related: Other drivers signed by DigiCert High Assurance EV Root CA · What an IOCTL dispatch code is · How YARA matching feeds the score · BYOVD research index · full driver database · CVE library · code signing atlas