CVE-2025-33230
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability allows attackers to execute arbitrary operating system commands by injecting malicious strings into the installation path parameter of NVIDIA Nsight Systems for Linux installer. It affects users installing or upgrading Nsight Systems on Linux systems. Successful exploitation could lead to full system compromise.
💻 Affected Systems
- NVIDIA Nsight Systems
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Full system compromise with root privileges, allowing complete control over the affected system, data exfiltration, and lateral movement within the network.
Likely Case
Local privilege escalation to root, enabling installation of persistent backdoors, data theft, and system manipulation.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if installer is run with minimal privileges and in isolated environments, though command injection could still affect the user's context.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires local access or ability to influence installation parameters. The vulnerability is in the installer script itself.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 2025.3.1 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5755
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Download the latest version of Nsight Systems from NVIDIA's official website. 2. Verify the checksum of the downloaded file. 3. Run the updated installer with appropriate privileges. 4. Remove any older vulnerable versions.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Use package manager installation
linuxInstall Nsight Systems through official package repositories instead of using the .run installer
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nsight-systems
Validate installation path
linuxManually validate and sanitize the installation path before running the installer
# Ensure installation path contains only alphanumeric characters, dots, dashes, and underscores
INSTALL_PATH="/opt/nvidia/nsight-systems"
if [[ ! $INSTALL_PATH =~ ^[a-zA-Z0-9._\/-]+$ ]]; then echo "Invalid path"; exit 1; fi
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Run installer in isolated container or VM with no network access
- Monitor for suspicious process execution during installation
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check if Nsight Systems version is older than 2025.3.1 by examining the installer filename or installed versionCheck Version:
nsys --versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify the installed version is 2025.3.1 or newer and that the installer was downloaded from NVIDIA's official source📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual process execution during Nsight Systems installation
- Shell commands with unusual arguments in installation logs
- Failed installation attempts with suspicious path parameters
Network Indicators:
- Outbound connections from installer process to unexpected destinations
SIEM Query:
process_name="nsight*" AND (command_line CONTAINS "||" OR command_line CONTAINS ";" OR command_line CONTAINS "`")