# CVE-2021-1074: Race condition in NVIDIA GPU Display Driver

> Local attackers can exploit a race condition in the NVIDIA GPU driver installer to replace resources, leading to code execution and privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** High 7.3 (`CVSS:3.1/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:** 21 Apr 2021
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-prf4-82qm-xc4f

## What is CVE-2021-1074?

CVE-2021-1074 is a high-severity vulnerability in Nvidia Gpu Display Driver, published on 21 Apr 2021. 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

NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows installer contains a vulnerability where an attacker with local unprivileged system access may be able to replace an application resource with malicious files. This attack requires a user with system administration rights to execute the installer and requires the attacker to replace the files in a very short time window between file integrity validation and execution. Such an attack may lead to code execution, escalation of privileges, denial of service, and information disclosure.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-1074?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Nvidia Gpu Display Driver.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-1074?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-1074 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-1074 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-1074 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Nvidia Gpu Display Driver

- [CVE-2026-24187](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24187/): Use after free in GeForce (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-0184](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0184/): Privilege escalation in NVIDIA GPU Display Driver (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2022-34671](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-34671/): Memory corruption in NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows (high 8.5)
- [CVE-2022-28181](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-28181/): Memory corruption in NVIDIA GPU Display Driver (high 8.5)
- [CVE-2022-28182](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-28182/): Memory corruption in NVIDIA GPU Display Driver (high 8.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-1074 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-1074 is a high-severity vulnerability in Nvidia Gpu Display Driver, published on 21 Apr 2021. 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-2021-1074 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Nvidia Gpu Display 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-2021-1074/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-1074/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-1074
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-1074
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-1074

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-1074/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.