VulnerabilityPublished 9 Mar 2026

CVE-2026-21736: Imagination Technologies Graphics DDK · Improper Handling of Insufficient Permissions or Privileges

Affects Imagination Technologies Graphics DDKSource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.4 Medium.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 06:59 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

4.4Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 2% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: Low
Integrity: Low
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 9 Mar 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 29 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Imagination TechnologiesGraphics DDK	Affected =1.17 RTM =1.18 RTM =23.2 RTM ≥ 24.1 RTM, ≤ 25.1 RTM	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2026-21736, organizations should: 1) Monitor Imagination Technologies’ official channels for patches or updates addressing this vulnerability and apply them promptly once available. 2) Restrict local access to systems running affected versions of the Graphics DDK to trusted users only, minimizing the risk of local exploitation. 3) Employ application whitelisting and endpoint protection solutions to detect and prevent unauthorized execution of untrusted code that could attempt to exploit this flaw. 4) Use system-level security features such as SELinux or AppArmor to enforce strict access controls on GPU driver interfaces and memory resources. 5) Conduct regular security audits and memory integrity checks to detect anomalous behavior indicative of exploitation attempts. 6) For embedded or mobile device manufacturers using the affected DDK versions, consider firmware updates or hardware-based mitigations to isolate GPU memory access. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on access control, monitoring, and layered defense tailored to GPU driver vulnerabilities.

Description

Software installed and run as a non-privileged user may conduct improper GPU system calls to gain write permission to read-only wrapped user-mode memory. This is caused by improper handling of the memory protections for the user-mode wrapped memory resource.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2026-21736 is the potential for local privilege escalation and unauthorized memory modification. An attacker with local access could exploit this vulnerability to gain write access to memory regions that should be read-only, undermining the confidentiality and integrity of user-mode processes. This could lead to arbitrary code execution with elevated privileges, data corruption, or bypassing security controls enforced by memory protections. For organizations, this means that systems running vulnerable versions of the Imagination Technologies Graphics DDK could be compromised by insiders or malware that gains initial foothold with limited privileges. The vulnerability could be particularly damaging in environments where GPUs are used for sensitive computations or where the Graphics DDK is part of critical embedded or mobile systems. Although no remote exploitation is indicated, the local attack vector still presents a significant risk in multi-user or shared environments.

CWE-280Improper Handling of Insufficient Permissions or Privileges (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessOWASP Top 10 A10:2025: Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions (opens in a new tab)
The product does not handle or incorrectly handles when it has insufficient privileges to access resources or functionality as specified by their permissions. This may cause it to follow unexpected code paths that may leave the product in an invalid state.
Architecture and Design · Separation of Privilege
Compartmentalize the system to have "safe" areas where trust boundaries can be unambiguously drawn. Do not allow sensitive data to go outside of the trust boundary and always be careful when interfacing with a compartment outside of the safe area.
Implementation
Always check to see if you have successfully accessed a resource or system functionality, and use proper error handling if it is unsuccessful. Do this even when you are operating in a highly privileged mode, because errors or environmental conditions might still cause a failure.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Logging (opens in a new tab)
Error Handling (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

imaginationtech.com/gpu-driver-vulnerabilities/ (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 9 Mar 2026, 12:52 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-280

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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