Windows 10 and 11 usually load this automatically when you plug in a compatible device.
USB serial drivers are software components that facilitate the conversion of data between USB and serial protocols. They allow devices that communicate through serial interfaces to connect to a computer via a USB port. This is achieved by emulating a serial port over USB, which enables the computer to communicate with the device as if it were connected through a traditional serial port.
| Risk | Description | Mitigation | |------|-------------|------------| | | Malware replaces VCP driver with malicious version. | Driver signing (WHQL, Secure Boot). | | Buffer overflow | Poorly written vendor driver may crash kernel. | Use built-in CDC ACM when possible. | | Device spoofing | Malicious USB device identifies as serial port to read sensitive data. | OS-level permission control; disable auto-open of new ports. | | Information leak | Debug messages in driver (e.g., FTDI’s verbose logging). | Disable debug mode; production drivers only. |
Many commercial USB-to-serial chips require proprietary drivers due to non-standard protocols, extra features (GPIO, I2C), or historical reasons.