# CVE-2015-5950: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can gain privileges by exploiting a kernel memory write vulnerability in NVIDIA display drivers via crafted ioctl calls.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.9 (`AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 29 Sep 2015
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2015-5950, GHSA-gc3p-rqcf-jm9p, MGASA-2015-0407, UBUNTU-CVE-2015-5950, USN-2747-1

## What is CVE-2015-5950?

CVE-2015-5950 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Nvidia Gpu Driver, published on 29 Sep 2015. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The NVIDIA display driver R352 before 353.82 and R340 before 341.81 on Windows; R304 before 304.128, R340 before 340.93, and R352 before 352.41 on Linux; and R352 before 352.46 on GRID vGPU and vSGA allows local users to write to an arbitrary kernel memory location and consequently gain privileges via a crafted ioctl call.

Weakness: CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2015-5950?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Nvidia Display Driver, Nvidia Gpu Driver.

## How do I fix CVE-2015-5950?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2015-5950 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-5950 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Nvidia Gpu Driver

- [CVE-2012-0951](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-0951/): Memory corruption in graphics drivers (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2013-0109](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-0109/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.2)
- [CVE-2012-0952](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-0952/): Heap overflow in control device ioctl (medium 5.0)
- [CVE-2012-0953](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-0953/): Kernel heap contents leak race in ioctl handler (medium 5.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2015-5950 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2015-5950 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Nvidia Gpu Driver, published on 29 Sep 2015. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-5950 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Nvidia Gpu Driver. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5950/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5950/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-5950
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-5950
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2015-5950

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5950/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.