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Nvidia publishes new security driver updates for Windows 7, 8, and older Kelper GPUs
Nvidia has published two new graphics card driver updates — on top of the new 551.61 driver update launched yesterday with the Nvidia App -- addressing major security flaws in its older GPU drivers. We don't know what security flaws Nvidia is addressing, but it has promised to update us with details on its security page shortly.
Nvidia has published two security driver updates this time around instead of just one: 474.82 and 474.89. The former is dedicated to Nvidia's GTX 600/700 series (bar the GTX 750 series) running Windows 10 or 11, while the latter is dedicated to all Nvidia GPUs that support and are still running Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1. This would include GPUs like the GTX 10 series and RTX 20 series and older but exclude GPUs like the RTX 30 and 40 series that only support Windows 10 and 11.
Nvidia's official statement on the changes made in 474.82.
NVIDIA has released a software security update display driver for desktop Kepler-seriesGeForce GPUs which are no longer supported by Game Ready Drivers. This update addresses issues that may lead to multiple security impacts. See Security Bulletin: NVIDIA GPU Display Driver – February 2024, which is posted shortly after the release date of this software on the NVIDIA Product Security page.
Nvidia's official statement on the changes made in 474.89.
NVIDIA has released a software security update display driver for GeForce GPUs to be used with Windows 7/8.x which is no longer supported by Game Ready Drivers. Effective October 2021, Game Ready Driver upgrades, including performance enhancements, new features, and bug fixes, are exclusively available for systems utilizing Windows 10 and Windows 11 as their operating system. Critical security updates will be available on systems utilizing Windows 7 through September 2024.
See Security Bulletin: NVIDIA GPU Display Driver – February 2024, which is posted shortly after the release date of this software, and will be posted on the NVIDIA Product Security page.
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These new driver updates are designed specifically to patch security flaws in Nvidia's older drivers. As a result, they do not come with any performance enhancements or feature updates. Nvidia dropped game-ready driver support for Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 and the Kepler GPU architecture in 2021 and will drop all driver support (including security updates) by September 2024.
If you are one of the few people still running Windows 7 or 8/8.1 or one of Nvidia's Kepler GPUs, it's probably worth updating to either of these new drivers to make sure your system stays as secure as possible. Alternatively, if you are on a newer GPU, like a GTX 900 series, 1000 series, or RTX 2000 series GPU, but are still running Windows 7 or 8/8.1, upgrading to Windows 10 or Windows 11 will allow you to run Nvidia's latest Game Ready drivers and extend driver support beyond 2024.
You can grab these new GPU driver updates from Nvidia's driver download page. Again, Nvidia willupdateg its security page with the exact security flaws these new drivers fix shortly.
I had initial hopes that the 780M in my MSI laptop might get a refresh on graphics drivers. But running the beta software shows otherwise. Maybe a later beta release will add it.
I wonder what is the point of releasing security update when in order to install and run that driver you need to run in test signing mode?
I don't know which exploits this update fixes (perhaps it is something easy to exploit by just viewing an image on the screen in your browser), but having test signing enabled allows drivers signed with arbitrary certificates to be loaded on your system which to me seems way more insecure then just having one unpatched driver.
