Analysis of nvflash.sys: suspicious verdict, risk score 58/100. 1 YARA match, 0/77 multi-engine detections. SHA256 afdd66562dea5100. Kernel imports, IOCTL codes, MITRE ATT&CK, and code-signing details.
DriverShield analyzed the Windows kernel driver nvflash.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 | 0 / 77 |
| File size | 48440 bytes |
| Code-signing signer | Symantec Time Stamping Services CA - G2 |
| Analyzed | 2026-09-06 |
| SHA256 | afdd66562dea51001c3a9de300f91fc3eb965d6848dfce92ccb9b75853e02508 |
| SHA1 | a4b2c56c12799855162ca3b004b4b2078c6ecf77 |
| MD5 | 84fb76ee319073e77fb364bbbbff5461 |
Version resource data embedded in the nvflash.sys PE header, as extracted by the analysis engine.
| File description | NVIDIA Flash Driver, Version 1.8.0 |
|---|---|
| Product | NVIDIA Flash Driver |
| Company | NVIDIA Corporation |
| Original filename | nvflash.sys |
| Internal name | nvflash |
| File version | 1.8.0 |
| Copyright | (C) 2017 NVIDIA Corporation. 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 | 100 / 100 |
| IOCTL dispatch surface | 27 / 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 nvflash.sys, ranked by exploitation relevance.
| API | Risk | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| ZwMapViewOfSection | 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 |
| ObOpenObjectByPointer | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| ZwCreateKey | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| ObReferenceObjectByHandle | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| KeBugCheckEx | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| ZwQuerySystemInformation | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| ZwSetValueKey | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| ZwClose | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| ZwOpenKey | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| ExAllocatePool | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| ExAllocatePoolWithTag | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| IoCreateSymbolicLink | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| IoDeleteDevice | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| IoCreateDevice | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| IoDeleteSymbolicLink | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| RtlInitUnicodeString | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| ZwQueryValueKey | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| IofCompleteRequest | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| IoCreateDeviceSecure | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0x0080E9C3 | high | METHOD_NEITHER | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #2672 |
| 0x002200F0 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | FILE_DEVICE_UNKNOWN Function #60 |
| 0x00808D41 | medium | METHOD_IN_DIRECT | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #848 |
| 0x0022B818 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | FILE_DEVICE_UNKNOWN Function #3590 |
| 0x00343D0E | medium | METHOD_OUT_DIRECT | FILE_DEVICE_DISK Function #3907 |
| 0x00343D2E | medium | METHOD_OUT_DIRECT | FILE_DEVICE_DISK Function #3915 |
| 0x00340030 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | FILE_DEVICE_DISK Function #12 |
| 0x00340330 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | FILE_DEVICE_DISK Function #204 |
| 0x008002A2 | medium | METHOD_OUT_DIRECT | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #168 |
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 | 0x1B40 | 0x1C00 | 6.27 | CODE, EXEC, READ |
| .rdata | 0x0818 | 0x0A00 | 3.64 | IDATA, READ |
| .data | 0x0248 | 0x0400 | 1.2 | IDATA, READ, WRITE |
| .pdata | 0x036C | 0x0400 | 3.75 | IDATA, READ |
| PAGE | 0x1BC4 | 0x1C00 | 6.25 | CODE, EXEC, READ |
| INIT | 0x05A6 | 0x0600 | 4.69 | CODE, EXEC, READ, WRITE, DISCARD |
| .rsrc | 0x0390 | 0x0400 | 2.99 | IDATA, READ, DISCARD |
| .reloc | 0x0028 | 0x0200 | 0.47 | 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_Nvidiacorporation_Nvflash_Nvidiaflashdriver_AFDD | medium | Detects vulnerable driver mentioned in known-vulnerable driver corpus project using VersionInfo values from the PE header - nvflash.sys. Investigate matches in context: expected filenames or standard ... |
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 |
| T1112 | Modify Registry | Defense Evasion |
| T1211 | Exploitation for Defense Evasion | Defense Evasion |
| 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 |
| 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, 100 paths explored at a maximum depth of 100. 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, nvflash.sys shows some suspicious signals and warrants manual review. Its composite risk score is 58/100 (verdict: suspicious). Always validate findings independently before acting.
nvflash.sys has a DriverShield composite risk score of 58/100, placing it in the suspicious verdict band. SHA256: afdd66562dea51001c3a9de300f91fc3eb965d6848dfce92ccb9b75853e02508.
nvflash.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