CVE-2025-23246 is a vulnerability identified in NVIDIA's vGPU software, specifically affecting versions R535, R550, R570, and R575 on both Windows and Linux platforms. The vulnerability resides in the Virtual GPU Manager component, also known as the vGPU plugin, which is responsible for managing virtualized GPU resources in environments such as cloud gaming and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). The core issue is an uncontrolled resource consumption flaw (CWE-400), where a guest virtual machine (VM) can exploit the vGPU Manager to consume excessive GPU or system resources without proper limitation or throttling. This can lead to resource exhaustion, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition that affects the availability of the host system or other co-located VMs. The vulnerability requires local access with low privileges (PR:L) and does not require user interaction (UI:N), but the attack vector is local (AV:L), meaning the attacker must have some level of access to the guest VM environment. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 5.5, categorized as medium severity, reflecting the moderate impact on availability without affecting confidentiality or integrity. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no patches have been linked yet, indicating that mitigation may rely on vendor updates or configuration changes once available. This vulnerability is particularly relevant for organizations leveraging NVIDIA vGPU technology in cloud gaming, virtual desktop infrastructure, or other GPU-accelerated virtualized environments, where resource sharing and isolation are critical for service stability and performance.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-23246 can be significant in sectors relying heavily on virtualized GPU resources, such as cloud service providers, gaming companies, research institutions, and enterprises using virtual desktop infrastructure. A successful exploitation could lead to denial of service, disrupting critical services, degrading user experience, and potentially causing financial and reputational damage. Since the vulnerability affects availability only, it does not directly compromise data confidentiality or integrity, but service outages can indirectly affect business continuity and operational efficiency. In cloud gaming environments, this could translate to widespread service interruptions affecting end-users. In enterprise VDI setups, it could disrupt employee productivity. The requirement for local access limits the attack surface to insiders or compromised guest VMs, but in multi-tenant cloud environments, this risk is elevated due to shared infrastructure. The absence of known exploits currently reduces immediate risk but underscores the need for proactive mitigation, especially as NVIDIA vGPU adoption grows in Europe.

Monitor NVIDIA’s official channels for patches addressing CVE-2025-23246 and apply updates promptly once available. Implement strict access controls and network segmentation to limit local access to guest VMs, reducing the risk of an attacker gaining the necessary privileges to exploit the vulnerability. Enforce resource quotas and limits at the hypervisor or cloud management layer to prevent any single guest VM from consuming excessive GPU or system resources. Use monitoring tools to detect abnormal resource consumption patterns in vGPU environments, enabling early detection of potential exploitation attempts. Consider isolating critical workloads on dedicated physical GPUs rather than shared vGPU instances to minimize the impact of resource exhaustion attacks. Review and harden virtualization platform configurations to ensure that guest VMs cannot escalate privileges or bypass resource controls. Educate administrators and security teams about the vulnerability specifics to enhance incident response readiness.