CVE-2016-2557
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe Escape interface in the Kernel Mode Driver layer in the NVIDIA GPU graphics driver R340 before 341.95 and R352 before 354.74 on Windows allows local users to obtain sensitive information from kernel memory, cause a denial of service (crash), or possibly gain privileges via unspecified vectors, which trigger uninitialized or out-of-bounds memory access.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThis is a kernel-mode driver vulnerability in NVIDIA GPU graphics drivers where the Escape interface allows local users to trigger uninitialized or out-of-bounds memory access, enabling information disclosure from kernel memory, denial of service via crash, and potential privilege escalation.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 431.61= 353.82CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify NVIDIA GPU driver is installedOpen Device Manager, expand 'Display adapters', and look for NVIDIA GPU entries. Alternatively, run 'wmic path win32_VideoController get name,driverversion' in Command Prompt.Affected if No NVIDIA GPU driver is found, the vulnerability does not apply.
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Obtain the installed NVIDIA driver versionRight-click the NVIDIA GPU in Device Manager, select Properties, go to the Driver tab, and note the Driver Version string. Alternatively, check the file properties of nvlddmkm.sys in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\.Affected if Driver version is 431.61 (R340 series) or 353.82 (R352 series).
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Confirm the driver series (R340 or R352)Check if the driver version matches the R340 or R340 series (e.g., versions in the 340.xx range) or the R352 series (versions in the 352.xx range) by comparing the major version number.Affected if Driver belongs to R340 or R352 series with the specific affected versions.
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Verify the nvlddmkm.sys kernel driver is loadedRun 'sc query nvlddmkm' in Command Prompt or check DriverView utility to confirm the NVIDIA kernel-mode driver is active.Affected if The nvlddmkm.sys driver is loaded and running, making the Escape interface accessible.
A system is affected if it has NVIDIA GPU Driver R340 version 431.61 or R352 version 353.82 with the nvlddmkm.sys kernel driver loaded and accessible to local users.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpdate NVIDIA graphics driver to version 341.95 or later for R340 series, or 354.74 or later for R352 series on Windows systems.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-2557 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-2557 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data