CVE-2016-2558
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, cause a denial of service (crash), or gain privileges via unspecified vectors related to an untrusted pointer, 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 confidenceVulnerability in NVIDIA's kernel-mode graphics driver Escape interface allows local users to trigger uninitialized or out-of-bounds memory access via an untrusted pointer, potentially leaking sensitive kernel memory, causing system crashes, or achieving 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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Identify NVIDIA GPU hardware presentRun 'lspci | grep -i nvidia' on Linux or check Device Manager on Windows to confirm NVIDIA GPU hardware is installedAffected if No NVIDIA GPU is found in the system, the vulnerability does not apply
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Query installed NVIDIA driver versionOn Linux, run 'nvidia-smi' or check '/proc/driver/nvidia/version'. On Windows, run 'driverquery' or check the driver file properties in Device Manager. Look for the driver version number in the format like 353.XX or 431.XXAffected if The driver version cannot be determined, but a GPU is present - further investigation needed
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Compare against affected R340 branch version 431.61If the driver version begins with 431.xx (R340 branch), check if version equals 431.61 exactlyAffected if Driver version is 431.61 - system is affected
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Compare against affected R352 branch version 353.82If the driver version begins with 353.xx (R352 branch), check if version equals 353.82 exactlyAffected if Driver version is 353.82 - system is affected
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Verify kernel-mode driver component is loadedOn Linux, check if 'nvidia.ko' kernel module is loaded via 'lsmod | grep nvidia'. On Windows, verify the NVIDIA kernel-mode driver (nvlddmkm.sys) is present in the driver stackAffected if Kernel-mode driver is not loaded or not present, the Escape interface vulnerability cannot be triggered
The system is affected if an NVIDIA GPU is present with driver version exactly 431.61 (R340 branch) or 353.82 (R352 branch) and the kernel-mode graphics driver is loaded.
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 GPU graphics driver to version 341.95 or later for R340 branch, or version 354.74 or later for R352 branch.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,752.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-2558 — 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-2016-2558 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
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