CVE-2018-6243
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 TLK Widevine Trust Application contains a vulnerability in which missing the input parameter checking of video metadata count may lead to Arbitrary Code Execution, Denial of Service or Escalation of Privileges. Android ID: A-72315075. Severity Rating: High. Version: N/A.
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 confidenceThis vulnerability exists in the NVIDIA Tegra TLK (Trusted Little Kernel) Trusted Application for Widevine DRM. The trust application fails to validate the video metadata count parameter before using it in operations, allowing a malicious caller to trigger buffer overflows or out-of-bounds memory accesses. This can lead to arbitrary code execution within the TEE, denial of service through crashes, or privilege escalation to compromise the trusted execution environment.
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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Confirm NVIDIA Tegra SoC usageCheck device specifications or run 'cat /proc/cpuinfo' to look for NVIDIA Tegra processor identifiers in the hardware informationAffected if Device does not have NVIDIA Tegra SoC - not affected; if Tegra present, continue to next check
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Verify Widevine DRM is enabledCheck for Widevine DRM modules or libraries on the device (e.g., look for widevine-related files in /system/lib/ or check DRM license status via DRM info tools)Affected if Widevine DRM is not present or not in use - not vulnerable; if Widevine is present on Tegra, the TEE trust application is likely exposed
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Check TEE (Trusted Execution Environment) statusVerify the device uses NVIDIA TLK (Trusted Little Kernel) as its TEE by checking /proc/teeinfo or device-specific TEE driver informationAffected if Device does not use TLK TEE - not affected; if TLK is the TEE and Widevine is present on Tegra hardware, the vulnerability applies
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Review firmware/vendor patch levelConsult device manufacturer documentation or system update information to confirm firmware patch level for the Tegra SoC Widevine trust applicationAffected if This is a baseline check - per CVE, all versions are affected; patch level helps determine if OTA update has been applied
Device is affected if it uses an NVIDIA Tegra SoC with Widevine DRM and the TLK trusted execution environment, as all versions of this configuration lack the required input validation fix.
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 NVIDIA-provided firmware patches for the Tegra SoC that include proper input validation in the Widevine trust application; devices running affected firmware should receive OTA updates from their manufacturers.
- Consultation16.0 h
- Implementation24.0 h
- Testing20.0 h
- Review / QA12.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-6243 — 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-2018-6243 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
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