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Radeon Rx 550 FirmwareOperating system · Amd

CVE-2019-5049

CRITICAL · 10.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-10-31
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
An exploitable memory corruption vulnerability exists in AMD ATIDXX64.DLL driver, versions 25.20.15031.5004 and 25.20.15031.9002. A specially crafted pixel shader can cause an out-of-bounds memory write. An attacker can provide a specially crafted shader file to trigger this vulnerability. This vulnerability can be triggered from VMware guest, affecting VMware host.

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

A memory corruption vulnerability exists in AMD's ATIDXX64.DLL DirectX graphics driver where a specially crafted pixel shader triggers an out-of-bounds memory write, potentially allowing arbitrary code execution. The critical aspect is that this can be triggered from within a VMware guest virtual machine and affect the VMware host system, representing a virtual machine escape vector.

MitigationApply AMD's vendor patch to update the graphics driver to a non-vulnerable version. In virtualized environments, consider disabling hardware GPU passthrough or hardware acceleration in untrusted VMs until patching is complete.

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
Radeon Rx 550 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:= 25.20.15031.5004= 25.20.15031.9002
Radeon 550 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:= 25.20.15031.5004= 25.20.15031.9002
Radeon Rx 550x FirmwareOperating system
Affected:= 25.20.15031.5004= 25.20.15031.9002

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 checks

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

  1. Identify AMD Radeon graphics driver version on Windows
    Open Device Manager, expand 'Display adapters', right-click the AMD GPU, select Properties, go to the Driver tab, and note the Driver Version field
    Affected if The displayed driver version matches exactly 25.20.15031.5004 or 25.20.15031.9002
  2. Check ATIDXX64.DLL file version on Windows
    Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\ and locate ATIDXX64.DLL, right-click and select Properties, then view the Details tab for File Version
    Affected if The file version matches 25.20.15031.5004 or 25.20.15031.9002, indicating the vulnerable driver DLL is loaded
  3. Identify firmware version on Linux
    Run 'lspci -v | grep -A 10 Radeon' or 'ls /lib/firmware/amdgpu/' to list installed AMDGPU firmware files and their version metadata
    Affected if The firmware files present include versions 25.20.15031.5004 or 25.20.15031.9002
  4. Determine if VMware GPU passthrough is configured
    In VMware vSphere Client, select the virtual machine, go to VM Settings, expand the PCI device list under the Hardware tab, and check if an AMD GPU is listed as a passthrough device
    Affected if An AMD Radeon Rx 550, 550, or 550x is attached as a passthrough device to a VM
  5. Check if DirectX/hardware shader acceleration is enabled in the VM
    Inside the VMware guest VM, run 'dxdiag' from the command prompt, go to the Display tabs, and verify that DirectDraw and Direct3D Acceleration show as Enabled
    Affected if Hardware acceleration is enabled in the guest and the host GPU is a vulnerable model

You are affected if your AMD Radeon Rx 550/550/550x driver or firmware version is exactly 25.20.15031.5004 or 25.20.15031.9002 AND you run VMware with GPU passthrough to a guest where DirectX acceleration is enabled.

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 AMD's vendor patch to update the graphics driver to a non-vulnerable version. In virtualized environments, consider disabling hardware GPU passthrough or hardware acceleration in untrusted VMs until patching is complete.

Fix this in Radeon Rx 550 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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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-2019-5049 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data