Executive brief
The silabser.sys driver for CP210x USB-to-serial devices contains a memory corruption vulnerability that allows an unprivileged user with physical access to a malicious USB device to crash the system or gain complete control with elevated privileges. This affects organizations using these devices for industrial automation, IoT gateways, and embedded system management, risking operational disruption and potential lateral movement within networks.
Technical details
A kernel pool memory corruption vulnerability exists in silabser.sys (the Windows driver for Silicon Labs CP210x USB-to-serial devices) in versions 11.5.0 and earlier. The driver fails to properly validate malformed USB packets, allowing a malicious device connected locally to corrupt kernel heap structures. An unprivileged user with physical access to attach such a device can trigger arbitrary code execution with kernel-level privileges. The attack requires only local device connection and no authentication; patches are available in driver versions later than 11.5.0.
Affected products
- Silicon Labs CP210x USB-to-Serial Driver (silabser.sys) 11.5.0 and earlier
Timeline
- 2026-09-10: disclosed