Threats / Intel / CVE-2015-2291
CVE-2015-2291
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-09-19
Intel Ethernet Diagnostics Driver for Windows vulnerability
Intel Ethernet Diagnostics Driver for Windows contains an improper input validation vulnerability allowing denial-of-service attacks through IQVW32.sys and IQVW64.sys.
Verdict
Today item, not a backlog item.
This vulnerability enables local attackers to crash or degrade system availability. The flaw has been exploited in ransomware campaigns, suggesting attackers leverage it as part of broader attack chains to disrupt defenses or facilitate secondary payload delivery.
CISA KEV Yes · 2023-02-104Ransomware use Flagged4EPSS 0.09011 (verify live)5Exploit Public PoC6CVSS 7.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: partial3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Public proof-of-concept exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
18 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2023-02-10), flagged for known ransomware use.
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.09011 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 7.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Intel, Ethernet Diagnostics Driver for Windows. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CISA-assigned via the ADP container (CVE.org), version 3.1; the CNA left no metrics, so CISA's own score is used ahead of NVD.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-20 Improper Input Validation.CWE assignment from the public NVD record (may be stale); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: partialCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 2011 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I craft malformed input to the Ethernet Diagnostics Driver to trigger unhandled exceptions.
Business
System availability is disrupted, reducing operational continuity and enabling follow-on attacks.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I chain this DoS primitive into ransomware deployment to disable monitoring or recovery mechanisms.
Business
Ransomware propagates with reduced detection, increasing encryption scope and ransom leverage.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05
Coverage & confidence
— what we know, and what we don’tEstablished (cited)
Coverage gaps — stated, not hidden
Disclosure & credit2
Catalogued by mitreCNA
Credited with finding itNo finder is named in the public CVE record or the scanned vendor advisory — attribution scoped to the sources checked.
Found an error? Propose a correction.
A correction is a cited counter-claim — it must cite a source,
gets reviewed by a second human, and is never auto-applied. See the
correction convention and our identity
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