CVE-2018-6240
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 Tegra contains a vulnerability in BootRom where a user with kernel level privileges can write an arbitrary value to an arbitrary physical address
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 confidenceNVIDIA Tegra BootRom vulnerability allowing a user with kernel-level privileges to write arbitrary values to arbitrary physical addresses. This represents a critical privilege escalation flaw in the boot read-only memory, potentially allowing bypass of the hardware root of trust.
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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if the device uses an NVIDIA Tegra SoCCheck the device's processor/soc information via 'cat /proc/cpuinfo' or check the device specifications for the model number and chipset details. Look for Tegra references in /sys/devices/soc0/ or via 'getprop' commands on Android.Affected if The device is running on an NVIDIA Tegra processor (Tegra 2, 3, 4, X1, etc.) and is an Android device, placing it in the affected product range.
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Confirm the device runs AndroidVerify the operating system is Android by checking 'getprop ro.build.id' or 'cat /system/build.prop' and checking for Android-specific system files and directories.Affected if The device is running any version of Android, which is the affected operating system for this CVE.
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Check the current secure boot stateOn supported devices, check secure boot status via 'getprop ro.secureboot.status' or by examining bootloader unlock status through 'fastboot oem debug' or manufacturer-specific tools. On some devices, this information may be available in /proc/cmdline or /boot/boot.scr.Affected if Secure boot is disabled or shows as not enforced, indicating the hardware root of trust may be bypassable.
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Verify kernel privilege levelDetermine if the current process has kernel-level privileges by checking the current UID and SELinux context via 'id' command or 'cat /proc/self/status' to see the privilege level of running processes.Affected if An untrusted user process somehow already has kernel-level privileges, indicating potential exploitation of this or similar vulnerability.
The device is affected if it runs Android on an NVIDIA Tegra SoC and either has secure boot disabled or an untrusted process already possesses kernel-level privileges, indicating the BootRom flaw may have been exploited.
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 dataBootRom vulnerabilities typically require firmware updates from the SoC vendor or hardware replacement since BootRom is immutable. Organizations should contact NVIDIA or their device OEM for applicable firmware patches and verify secure boot configurations.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $12,352.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-6240 — 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-2018-6240 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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