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Gpu DriverApplication · Nvidia

CVE-2017-6277

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-09-22
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

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 · unedited
NVIDIA Windows GPU Display Driver contains a vulnerability in the kernel mode layer (nvlddmkm.sys) handler for DxgkDdiEscape where a value passed from a user to the driver is not correctly validated and used as the index to an array which 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 · high confidence

The NVIDIA Windows GPU Display Driver's kernel-mode handler DxgkDdiEscape in nvlddmkm.sys fails to validate a user-supplied value before using it as an array index, allowing an attacker to access out-of-bounds memory locations leading to denial of service or privilege escalation.

MitigationApply the NVIDIA GPU display driver update/patch to address the input validation vulnerability in the kernel-mode driver.

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
Gpu DriverApplication
Affected:all versions

CVSS 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
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check for NVIDIA GPU hardware
    Open Device Manager, expand 'Display adapters' and look for any NVIDIA GPU listed
    Affected if No NVIDIA GPU is present in the system
  2. Locate the vulnerable kernel driver
    Check if nvlddmkm.sys exists in the Windows\System32\drivers\ directory or run 'driverquery /v | findstr nvlddmkm'
    Affected if The nvlddmkm.sys driver file is not present on the system
  3. Retrieve the NVIDIA driver version
    Right-click the NVIDIA GPU in Device Manager, select Properties, go to the Driver tab, and note the driver version; alternatively, run 'nvidia-smi' from command line if installed
    Affected if A driver version is returned (any version indicates the driver is installed)
  4. Confirm the driver is loaded
    Run 'sc query nvlddmkm' or check the Windows Event Viewer for nvlddmkm driver entries
    Affected if The nvlddmkm service exists and shows a state

If an NVIDIA GPU with the nvlddmkm.sys kernel driver is present on a Windows system, the environment is affected since all versions of this driver are vulnerable to the array index validation flaw.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the NVIDIA GPU display driver update/patch to address the input validation vulnerability in the kernel-mode driver.

Fix this in Gpu Driver Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-6277 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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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