CVE-2020-12982
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability in AMD Graphics Driver for Windows 10 allows attackers to exploit an invalid object pointer free issue, potentially leading to privilege escalation or denial of service. It affects Windows 10 systems with vulnerable AMD graphics drivers installed.
💻 Affected Systems
- AMD Graphics Driver
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Full system compromise via privilege escalation to SYSTEM level, allowing complete control over the affected system.
Likely Case
Local privilege escalation allowing attackers to gain higher privileges than their current user account, potentially leading to persistence or lateral movement.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper user account controls and driver updates, potentially only causing driver crashes or system instability.
🎯 Exploit Status
Requires local access and knowledge of driver internals to exploit the pointer free vulnerability.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: AMD driver version with fix included in AMD-SB-1000 security bulletin
Vendor Advisory: https://www.amd.com/en/corporate/product-security/bulletin/amd-sb-1000
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Visit AMD's driver download page. 2. Download latest graphics driver for your hardware. 3. Run installer and follow prompts. 4. Restart system when prompted.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict local access
windowsLimit physical and remote local access to systems with vulnerable drivers
User Account Control enforcement
windowsEnsure UAC is enabled and running with least privilege accounts
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict access controls to prevent unauthorized local access
- Monitor for suspicious driver-related activity and system crashes
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check AMD driver version in Device Manager > Display adapters > Properties > Driver tabCheck Version:
wmic path win32_pnpsigneddriver where "DeviceName like '%AMD%'" get DeviceName, DriverVersionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify driver version matches or exceeds version specified in AMD-SB-1000 bulletin📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected system crashes
- Driver failure events in Windows Event Log
- Privilege escalation attempts
Network Indicators:
- Not applicable - local vulnerability
SIEM Query:
EventID=1000 OR EventID=1001 OR EventID=6008 | where ProcessName contains "amd" or Message contains "AMD"