Executive brief
NVIDIA has identified a security vulnerability in its Linux display drivers, which are essential components for managing graphics hardware on Linux systems. An attacker with local access to a system could exploit this flaw to gain elevated administrative privileges or access sensitive data. This could lead to a complete system compromise, unauthorized data modification, or a total loss of system availability.
Technical details
A vulnerability exists in the NVIDIA Display Driver for Linux due to an incorrect conversion between numeric types (CWE-681). This flaw results in a heap-based buffer overflow when processing specific inputs. The attack vector is local, requiring the attacker to have low-level user privileges on the system (PR:L) but no user interaction (UI:N). Successful exploitation allows an attacker to achieve arbitrary code execution, escalate privileges to a higher level, or cause a denial of service (DoS) by crashing the driver. Users are advised to refer to NVIDIA advisory 5821 for specific patched version details.
Affected products
- NVIDIA Display Driver for Linux
Timeline
- 2026-05-26: disclosed: Initial publication of the CVE record.