CVE-2020-5981 Memory corruption in NVIDIA GPU Display Driver

High 7.8 Published 2 Oct 2020 Updated 4 Aug 2024

A crafted shader in the NVIDIA Windows GPU driver causes out-of-bounds access, potentially allowing code execution or denial of service.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2020-5981?

CVE-2020-5981 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in NVIDIA GPU Display Driver, published on 2 Oct 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

NVIDIA Windows GPU Display Driver, all versions, contains a vulnerability in the DirectX11 user mode driver (nvwgf2um/x.dll), in which a specially crafted shader can cause an out of bounds access, which may lead to denial of service or code execution.

Weakness: CWE-787

Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-5981?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Nvidia Virtual Gpu Manager.

How do I fix CVE-2020-5981?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-5981 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.

Is CVE-2020-5981 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-5981 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as GHSA-97hx-wf9g-76mq.