Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2026-21732 is a critical-severity Use of Out-of-range Pointer Offset (CWE-823) vulnerability in Imaginationtech Ddk. Its CVSS base score is 9.6 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 21th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); 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 SA-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — 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-2026-21732 is an out-of-bounds write vulnerability in the GPU shader compiler library, triggered when a web page loads unusual GPU shader code into the GPU compiler process. It affects Imagination Technologies GPU drivers, where an edge case involving a very large value in switch statements within GPU shader code causes a segmentation fault due to the out-of-bounds write access. The vulnerability is associated with CWE-823 (Access of Uninitialized Pointer) and CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write) and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.6.
A remote attacker with no privileges can exploit this vulnerability over the network with low complexity by tricking a user into loading a malicious web page that contains the anomalous shader code, requiring user interaction. The initial impact is a crash in the GPU compiler process, but on certain platforms where the compiler process runs with system privileges, this could enable further exploits on the device, achieving high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts with a changed scope.
Imagination Technologies has published details on mitigations in their GPU driver vulnerabilities advisory at https://www.imaginationtech.com/gpu-driver-vulnerabilities/.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-13834
Vulnerability Data
A web page that contains unusual GPU shader code is loaded into the GPU compiler process and can trigger a write out-of-bounds write crash in the GPU shader compiler library. On certain platforms, when the compiler process has system privileges…
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this could enable further exploits on the device. An edge case using a very large value in switch statements in GPU shader code can cause a segmentation fault in the GPU shader compiler due to an out-of-bounds write access.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 2 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
V1.4.1
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation (including static analysis and fuzzing) directly finds unsafe pointer arithmetic before deployment.
Requiring documented development standards and tools can mandate safe pointer usage and compiler/runtime checks that stop the weakness from being introduced.
Security engineering principles can require bounds-checked pointer arithmetic or safe language constructs that structurally avoid out-of-range offsets.
Process isolation confines damage from invalid pointer offsets to a single address space, reducing overall impact.
Input validation can structurally reject or sanitize data that would otherwise trigger an out-of-bounds write.
Memory-protection controls limit the blast radius of an out-of-range pointer dereference without preventing or detecting the coding error itself.
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.
Secure SDLC practices directly require bounds-checked pointer arithmetic and static analysis to prevent out-of-range offsets.
SAST/DAST tools used for vulnerability identification can surface this class of coding defect.
Patching or replacing vulnerable software directly eliminates known instances of this coding weakness.
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.
Security testing can detect out-of-range pointer offsets before release.
Secure SDLC mandates input validation and bounds checking that can prevent out-of-range pointer offsets.
Application security requirements include memory-safety rules that reduce pointer-offset errors.
Secure architecture principles promote safe pointer handling and memory layout controls.
Secure coding standards directly forbid unsafe pointer arithmetic and require bounds checks.
Change management can enforce review gates that catch unsafe memory operations before deployment.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Windows 10 (1 rule)
- V-220726 Data Execution Prevention (DEP) must be configured to at least OptOut. prevents CWE-823