Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
-
AccessGain local low-privileged access
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DeliveryOpen NVIDIA kernel-mode device interface
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ExploitTrigger read-only permission preservation flaw
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ExecutionWrite to protected kernel memory
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PersistExecute code in kernel context
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ImpactEscalate to root / full compromise
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Permission preservation
|
| Exploitation Conditions | Requires local access to a system running the affected NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Linux (GeForce, RTX/Quadro/NVS, Tesla branches, including the vGPU Guest Driver and Virtual GPU Manager components), with the attacker holding an unprivileged local account able to reach the kernel-mode driver's device interface - PR:L, AV:L, no user interaction (UI:N). Limiting factors: the vulnerability is not remotely reachable (no network vector), so an attacker must already have code execution or interactive access on the host or inside a vGPU guest; there is no user interaction requirement to lower the bar once local access exists. In multi-tenant vGPU deployments the Guest Driver/Virtual GPU Manager exposure means a guest-side attacker is a realistic threat model. |
| Impact | All signals point to a locally-exploitable privilege-escalation issue rather than a remotely-wormable one. The CVSS 3.1 vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H (7.8, HIGH) requires local access with low privileges but no user interaction, and yields full C:H/I:H/A:H impact - consistent with a local attacker who already has a foothold (any unprivileged user with access to the GPU device nodes) escalating to kernel-level code execution. No EPSS score, CISA KEV listing, or public POC was provided in the input, so there is no public exploit identified at time of analysis and no evidence of active exploitation; this is a vendor-reported (NVIDIA) issue disclosed through NVIDIA's product-security advisory, not a CISA-flagged one. The description's hedged language ('might not be preserved', 'might lead to') reflects the vendor describing a class of impacts rather than a demonstrated exploit chain. Net: this is a legitimate patch-worthy local EoP in a very widely deployed driver, but it is not an emergency remote-exploitation scenario. Priority is driven by the enormous install base and kernel-level impact, not by any exploitation-probability signal, all of which are absent. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A local unprivileged user on a Linux host with the NVIDIA GPU driver installed - or a tenant inside a vGPU guest - issues crafted ioctls/operations to the kernel-mode driver that cause read-only memory permissions to not be correctly preserved, turning a protected mapping into a writable one. By corrupting that now-writable kernel memory, the attacker executes code in kernel context and escalates from their low-privilege account to full system control. No public POC is referenced, and exploitation requires local access, so this is a post-foothold escalation rather than an initial-access vector. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Sep 30, 2026
Local privilege escalation and memory-protection bypass in NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Linux allows an unprivileged local user to execute code at higher privilege, tamper with data, disclose information, or cause denial of service. The flaw is in the kernel-mode layer and affects GeForce, RTX/Quadro/NVS, Tesla, and vGPU Guest Driver/Virtual GPU Manager deployments, with a CVSS 3.1 score of 7.8 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N). No public exploit identified at time of analysis, and no CISA KEV active-exploitation signal is present; the assessed attack path requires prior local access on the host or inside a vGPU guest.
RemediationAI
Patch available per vendor advisory; exact fixed driver version is not specified in the provided data, so consult the NVIDIA product-security advisory at https://github.com/NVIDIA/product-security/tree/main/2026/5861 to identify the correct patched release for each affected branch. For vGPU deployments, update both the host Virtual GPU Manager and guest drivers in a coordinated maintenance window, because mismatched components may leave a vulnerable guest or host path active. If immediate patching is not possible, restrict access to NVIDIA device nodes such as /dev/nvidia* to trusted local users, avoid running untrusted workloads on affected hosts or vGPU guests, and isolate tenants where the Guest Driver/Virtual GPU Manager is exposed; these controls trade off normal GPU acceleration for non-admin users and may require downtime for coordinated vGPU updates. No public exploit identified at time of analysis and no CISA KEV active-exploitation signal, but the local privilege-escalation impact warrants prompt patching.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 3 packages in euvd
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Technical ContextAI · show details
The vulnerability is classified as CWE-281 (Improper Preservation of Permissions) in the Linux kernel-mode portion of the NVIDIA GPU Display Driver. Specifically, permissions on read-only memory may not be preserved, allowing a local attacker who can interact with the driver's device interface to modify or expose memory that should remain read-only. The affected CPEs cover NVIDIA GeForce, RTX/Quadro/NVS, and Tesla product families, with tags indicating exposure through the vGPU Guest Driver and Virtual GPU Manager components. The CVSS vector AV:L/PR:L/UI:N indicates the attacker needs local access and a low-privileged account but no user interaction; successful exploitation could lead to code execution, privilege escalation, information disclosure, data tampering, or denial of service.
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Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Local access to the kernel-mode driver by an unprivileged user (AV:L/PR:L), no interaction needed, and kernel-memory corruption yields full C:H/I:H/A:H within the host scope (S:U).
Primary rating from Vendor (nvidia).
CVSS VectorVendor: nvidia
DescriptionCVE.org
NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Linux contains a vulnerability in the kernel mode layer where permissions on read-only memory might not be preserved. A successful exploit of this vulnerability might lead to code execution, denial of service, escalation of privileges, information disclosure, and data tampering.
Articles & Coverage 3
Executive ViewAI
A high-severity flaw in NVIDIA's Linux GPU Display Driver allows an ordinary local user to gain elevated privileges and bypass memory protections on affected hosts, placing GeForce, RTX/Quadro/NVS, Tesla, and vGPU environments - including both guest drivers and the Virtual GPU Manager - at risk of code execution, data tampering, data disclosure, or service disruption. Because the issue lives in the kernel-mode layer and no vendor patch is yet available, any system where non-privileged users, contractors, or tenants already have local access (including multi-tenant vGPU guests) represents an unmitigated escalation path until NVIDIA releases a fix. Leadership should care because the affected footprint spans engineering workstations, AI/HPC compute nodes, and virtualized GPU estates, and the absence of a patch means exposure must be managed through access controls and monitoring rather than remediation.
No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis. Interim mitigations: restrict and audit local logon rights on all GPU-bearing hosts and vGPU guests; enforce strict per-tenant isolation for virtualized GPU workloads; remove or disable unneeded display/kernel-mode GPU components on headless compute nodes; monitor for privilege-escalation and anomalous driver behavior via host EDR and kernel logging; isolate high-value GPU systems on dedicated single-tenant hardware; and track NVIDIA's advisory to deploy the vendor patch immediately upon release.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.
Remote Code Execution represents the critical moment when an attacker successfully runs arbitrary code on a target system without physical access.
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
Local privilege escalation and code execution in the NVIDIA Display Driver for Linux (GeForce, RTX/Quadro/NVS, Tesla, an
An out-of-bounds read in the kernel-mode layer of NVIDIA GPU Display Driver on Windows and Linux allows a local, authent
An out-of-bounds write in NVIDIA NVAPI for Windows allows a locally authenticated attacker holding standard user privile
Type confusion in the kernel-mode layer of the NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Linux allows a local low-privileged user (C
Local privilege escalation in NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows (CUDA driver component) allows an authenticated atta
Local privilege escalation in NVIDIA Display Driver for Windows allows an authenticated low-privileged user to trigger a
Local privilege escalation and potential code execution in NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows and Linux arise from a
Local privilege escalation in NVIDIA Display Driver for Windows and Linux allows an unprivileged local attacker to trigg
Local privilege escalation and memory corruption in NVIDIA GPU Display Driver on Windows and Linux, affecting GeForce, R
Local privilege escalation in the NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Linux allows an authenticated, unprivileged user to trig
Local privilege escalation in the kernel-mode layer of the NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Linux allows an unprivileged lo
Privilege escalation in NVIDIA's GPU Display Driver for Windows lets a local, low-privileged authenticated user bypass a
Same weakness CWE-281 – Improper Preservation of Permissions
View allVendor StatusVendor
SUSE
Severity: Important| Product | Status |
|---|---|
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications 16.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications 16.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications 16.1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Micro 6.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Micro 6.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Micro 6.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Micro 6.1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Micro 6.1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Micro 6.1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Micro 6.2 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Micro 6.2 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 16.0 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 16.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-ESPOS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Proxy 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Proxy LTS 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server LTS 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Server 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Server LTS 4.3 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.4 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.5 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.6 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.6 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap Micro 5.5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for NVIDIA 16.1 | Affected |
EUVD-2026-90189
GHSA-92cv-p8mv-x8rg
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB