CVE-2018-6269
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 Jetson TX2 contains a vulnerability in the kernel driver where input/output control (IOCTL) handling for user mode requests could create a non-trusted pointer dereference, which may lead to information disclosure, denial of service, escalation of privileges, or code execution. The updates apply to all versions prior to R28.3.
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 Jetson TX2 kernel driver contains a vulnerability where IOCTL handling for user mode requests creates a non-trusted pointer dereference. This improper validation of user-supplied pointers in kernel mode could allow an attacker to perform out-of-bounds memory access, potentially leading to privilege escalation, code execution, information disclosure, or denial of service.
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< r28.3CVSS 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 Jetson TX2 hardwareCheck /proc/cpuinfo for 'NVIDIA Jetson TX2' or run 'cat /sys/firmware/devicetree/base/model' to read the device modelAffected if The device is not a Jetson TX2 (this CVE only applies to that specific platform)
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Check L4T versionRead /etc/nv_tegra_release which contains the L4T release version string (e.g., 'R28.2' or 'R28.3')Affected if The L4T version shown is earlier than R28.3 (version numbers below r28.3)
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Verify kernel versionRun 'uname -r' to get the kernel version and cross-reference with L4T release notes to confirm it corresponds to a version before r28.3Affected if The kernel version is from an L4T release prior to R28.3
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Confirm NVIDIA kernel driver presenceRun 'lsmod | grep nvidia' or check /proc/modules to see if NVIDIA-specific kernel modules are loadedAffected if NVIDIA kernel drivers are loaded and the system is vulnerable due to version being below r28.3
A user is affected if their Jetson TX2 is running L4T version R28.2 or earlier (any version below r28.3), as the IOCTL pointer validation vulnerability exists in the kernel driver of those versions.
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 Jetson TX2 to L4T R28.3 or later version which contains the patched kernel driver. This is a firmware/OS-level update requiring re-flashing the affected devices.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $11,200.
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-6269 — 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-2018-6269 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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