# CVE-2020-5978: Privilege escalation in NVIDIA GeForce Experience Software

> A local attacker can exploit improper folder creation privileges to escalate privileges or cause a denial of service in NVIDIA GeForce Experience.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/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:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 23 Oct 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-c4v9-8xjg-8hcc

## What is CVE-2020-5978?

CVE-2020-5978 is a high-severity vulnerability in NVIDIA GeForce Experience Software, published on 23 Oct 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

NVIDIA GeForce Experience, all versions prior to 3.20.5.70, contains a vulnerability in its services in which a folder is created by nvcontainer.exe under normal user login with LOCAL_SYSTEM privileges which may lead to a denial of service or escalation of privileges.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-5978?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Nvidia Geforce Experience.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-5978?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-5978 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-5978 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-5978 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in NVIDIA GeForce Experience Software

- [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-2020-5978 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-5978 is a high-severity vulnerability in NVIDIA GeForce Experience Software, published on 23 Oct 2020. 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-2020-5978 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: NVIDIA GeForce Experience Software. 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-2020-5978/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-5978/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-5978
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-5978
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-5978

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-5978/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.