CVE-2019-5673
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 (on all versions prior to R28.3) where the ARM System Memory Management Unit (SMMU) improperly checks for a fault condition, causing transactions to be discarded, which may lead to denial of service.
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 confidenceThe NVIDIA Jetson TX2 kernel driver contains a flaw in the ARM System Memory Management Unit (SMMU) where fault condition checks are improperly implemented. This causes legitimate memory transactions to be discarded, resulting in a denial of service condition.
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
- None
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/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 the device is a Jetson TX2Run `cat /proc/device-tree/model` or check `/proc/cpuinfo` for the Jetson TX2 platform identifierAffected if The device model does not show "Jetson TX2" or similar NVIDIA TX2 identifier
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Identify the installed L4T versionCheck the version file with `cat /etc/nv_tegra_release` or `cat /proc/version` to find the L4T release version numberAffected if The version shown is earlier than r28.3 (release version 28.3) or the version field shows a number less than 28
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Verify the SMMU driver is in useCheck kernel configuration with `zcat /proc/config.gz 2>/dev/null || cat /boot/config*` for CONFIG_ARM_SMMU or check device tree with `ls /sys/firmware/devicetree/base/` for SMMU nodesAffected if The SMMU driver is enabled and the device uses ARM SMMU for memory management (this is the component with the flaw)
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Check for SMMU fault events in system logsRun `dmesg | grep -i smmu` or check `/var/log/syslog` for SMMU fault, abort, or TLB mismatch messagesAffected if SMMU fault errors appear in kernel logs indicating memory transactions are being incorrectly rejected
A system is affected if it is a Jetson TX2 running an L4T version earlier than r28.3 and the SMMU driver is actively handling memory transactions.
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 dataUpgrade the Jetson TX2 firmware/kernel to version R28.3 or later which contains the corrected SMMU driver logic.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,096.
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-5673 — 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-2019-5673 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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