# CVE-2016-4960: Privilege escalation in Quadro, NVS, GeForce (all versions)

> An attacker can exploit improper input validation in the NVIDIA NVStreamKMS.sys service to elevate privileges on systems using affected NVIDIA GPU drivers.

- **Severity:** High 7.3 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 8 Nov 2016
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-gg38-rv87-v946

## What is CVE-2016-4960?

CVE-2016-4960 is a high-severity vulnerability in Quadro, NVS, GeForce (all versions), published on 8 Nov 2016. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

For the NVIDIA Quadro, NVS, and GeForce products, the NVIDIA NVStreamKMS.sys service component is improperly validating user-supplied data through its API entry points causing an elevation of privilege.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-4960?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Nvidia Geforce Experience.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-4960?

No fix has been published for CVE-2016-4960 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2016-4960 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-4960 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Quadro, NVS, GeForce (all versions)

- [CVE-2017-6250](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-6250/): Code injection in GeForce Experience (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2016-8812](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-8812/): Memory corruption in Quadro, NVS, and GeForce (all versions) (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2021-1073](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-1073/): Information disclosure in NVIDIA GeForce Experience Software (high 8.3)
- [CVE-2022-42291](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-42291/): Path traversal in GeForce Experience (high 8.2)
- [CVE-2021-23175](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-23175/): Missing authorization in NVIDIA GeForce Experience Software (high 8.2)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-4960 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-4960 is a high-severity vulnerability in Quadro, NVS, GeForce (all versions), published on 8 Nov 2016. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-4960 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Quadro, NVS, GeForce (all versions). 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-2016-4960/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-4960/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-4960
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-4960
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-4960

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-4960/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.