CVE-2017-0311
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 · uneditedNVIDIA GPU Display Driver R378 contains a vulnerability in the kernel mode layer handler where improper access control may lead to denial of service or possible escalation of privileges.
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 · moderate confidenceNVIDIA GPU Display Driver R378 contains a kernel-mode access control vulnerability in the display driver handler that may allow a local attacker to cause denial of service or escalate privileges to execute code with kernel-level permissions.
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 dataall versionsCVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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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Check if NVIDIA GPU driver is installedOn Windows, open Device Manager and expand 'Display adapters' to see if an NVIDIA GPU is listed. On Linux, run 'nvidia-smi' or 'lsmod | grep nvidia' to verify the driver is present.Affected if No NVIDIA GPU driver is found, the system is not affected by this CVE.
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Identify the NVIDIA driver versionOn Windows, right-click the NVIDIA device in Device Manager, select Properties, go to the Driver tab, and note the driver version. On Linux, run 'nvidia-smi' and check the 'Driver Version' field.Affected if The driver version is present and can be compared to the fixed version R378.
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Verify kernel-mode display driver component is activeOn Windows, check that the nvlddmkm.sys kernel driver is loaded by running 'sc query nvlddmkm' or checking Device Manager driver details. On Linux, verify nvidia.ko is loaded via 'lsmod | grep nvidia'.Affected if The kernel-mode driver is loaded and active, making the access control vulnerability exploitable.
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Compare installed version against fixed release R378If the driver version is available, compare it numerically to version 378.xx. Earlier versions (e.g., 375.xx, 370.xx, etc.) are within the affected range.Affected if The installed driver version is older than R378, indicating the system is vulnerable to privilege escalation via the kernel-mode handler.
A system is affected if it has an NVIDIA GPU display driver installed with a version prior to R378 and the kernel-mode driver component is loaded and active.
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 dataApply the NVIDIA security update for driver R378 or later to address the improper access control in the kernel mode layer handler.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation2.0 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-2017-0311 — 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-2017-0311 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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- 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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