Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-33228

Command Injection in Nvidia Cuda Toolkit ≤ 13.1.0

Published
20 January 2026
Modified
02 February 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.012 65th percentile
Risk Priority 56 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-33228 is a high-severity OS Command Injection (CWE-78) vulnerability in Nvidia Cuda Toolkit. Its CVSS base score is 7.3 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked in the top 35% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2025-33228 is an OS command injection vulnerability in NVIDIA Nsight Systems, specifically within the gfx_hotspot recipe of the process_nsys_rep_cli.py script. The issue arises when the script is invoked manually and supplied with a malicious string, potentially allowing arbitrary command execution. Published on 2026-01-20, it carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.3 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) and is associated with CWE-78: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command.

A local attacker with low privileges can exploit this vulnerability by tricking a user into manually executing the affected script with a crafted input string. Successful exploitation could result in code execution, privilege escalation, data tampering, denial of service, or information disclosure, depending on the attacker's goals and the system's configuration.

Mitigation guidance is provided in the NVIDIA security bulletin at https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5755, along with details in the NVD entry at https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-33228 and the CVE record at https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-33228. Security practitioners should consult these advisories for patching instructions and workarounds.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

NVIDIA Nsight Systems contains a vulnerability in the gfx_hotspot recipe, where an attacker could cause an OS command injection by supplying a malicious string to the process_nsys_rep_cli.py script if the script is invoked manually. A successful exploit of this vulnerability…

more

might lead to code execution, escalation of privileges, data tampering, denial of service, and information disclosure.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
T1059.003 Windows Command Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse the Windows command shell for execution.
T1059.004 Unix Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse Unix shell commands and scripts for execution.
T1059.001 PowerShell Execution
Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-33230Same product: Nvidia Cuda Toolkit
CVE-2024-0109Same product: Nvidia Cuda Toolkit
CVE-2025-23255Same product: Nvidia Cuda Toolkit
CVE-2024-53871Same product: Nvidia Cuda Toolkit
CVE-2024-53874Same product: Nvidia Cuda Toolkit
CVE-2024-53870Same product: Nvidia Cuda Toolkit
CVE-2024-53875Same product: Nvidia Cuda Toolkit
CVE-2024-53872Same product: Nvidia Cuda Toolkit
CVE-2024-0111Same product: Nvidia Cuda Toolkit
CVE-2024-53876Same product: Nvidia Cuda Toolkit

Affected Assets

nvidia
cuda toolkit
≤ 13.1.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.2.5
  • V1.2.8
  • V15.2.5

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can discover missing or incorrect command sanitization during development.

Input validation directly neutralizes or rejects special characters that would otherwise alter OS command structure.

Least privilege reduces the permissions available to any process that could be subverted by injected commands.

Least functionality restricts available OS commands and interpreters, limiting the blast radius of injection.

Secure engineering principles require proper neutralization of untrusted input before command construction.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

PR.PS-06's SDLC practices directly require secure coding and input handling that blocks command-injection defects, yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors and verification gaps unaddressed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching/maintenance can remediate known command-injection CVEs in dependencies (partial forward) but does nothing to stop developers from introducing improper neutralization in custom code (none reverse).

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing and code review target insecure use of operating-system command interfaces, catching command-injection flaws introduced during development.

References