CVE-2019-5683
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 Windows GPU Display Driver (all versions) contains a vulnerability in the user mode video driver trace logger component. When an attacker has access to the system and creates a hard link, the software does not check for hard link attacks. This behavior may lead to code execution, denial of service, or escalation of privileges.
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 confidenceNVIDIA Windows GPU Display Driver contains a hard link attack vulnerability in the user mode video driver trace logger component. The driver fails to validate file operations for hard link attacks, allowing an attacker with local system access to manipulate file writes to potentially achieve code execution, denial of service, or privilege escalation.
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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Verify NVIDIA GPU driver is installedOpen Device Manager, expand 'Display adapters', look for NVIDIA GPU entry. Or run 'driverquery /v | findstr nvidia' in Command Prompt.Affected if No NVIDIA GPU driver is found, the system is not affected.
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Check NVIDIA driver versionRight-click NVIDIA GPU in Device Manager, select Properties, view Driver version. Or run 'nvidia-smi' if available, which shows Driver Version in output.Affected if Any installed version is affected since all versions are vulnerable.
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Identify trace logger component statusCheck if NVIDIA trace logging service is running: Open Services (services.msc), look for 'NVIDIA Display Container LS' or related NVIDIA logging services. Also check for presence of trace log files in ProgramData\NVIDIA\Logs or similar directories.Affected if If NVIDIA driver and trace logger component are present, the system is potentially affected.
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Confirm hard link vulnerability contextReview that the vulnerability exists in the user mode video driver trace logger component specifically - this is the vulnerable module.Affected if If the trace logger component is enabled and the NVIDIA driver is installed, the environment is affected by this CVE.
A system is affected if it has any version of the NVIDIA Windows GPU Display Driver installed with the trace logger component enabled, as all versions contain the hard link attack vulnerability in this component.
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 the NVIDIA GPU display driver to a patched version. Limit local unprivileged access to systems to reduce attack surface.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-5683 — 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-2019-5683 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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