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Radeon SoftwareApplication · Amd

CVE-2020-12895

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-11-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 20.11.2 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
Pool/Heap Overflow in AMD Graphics Driver for Windows 10 in Escape 0x110037 may lead to escalation of privilege, information disclosure or 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 · moderate confidence

A pool/heap overflow vulnerability exists in the AMD Graphics Driver for Windows 10 within the Escape handler function 0x110037. This kernel-mode driver flaw allows a local attacker to trigger overflow conditions via specially crafted IOCTL requests, potentially achieving privilege escalation to kernel level, leaking sensitive memory contents, or causing system crashes.

MitigationApply AMD-provided driver updates; until patched, restrict local untrusted code execution and monitor for indicators of compromise targeting the graphics driver.

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 SoftwareApplication
Affected:< 20.11.2

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/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 checks

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

  1. Verify AMD graphics driver presence
    Open Device Manager, expand 'Display adapters', and confirm an AMD Radeon graphics device is listed. Alternatively, check for the presence of AMD driver files in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\ (atikmdag.sys, atikfxg.sys, or similar AMD kernel drivers).
    Affected if An AMD graphics driver is installed and the atikmdag.sys or similar AMD kernel-mode driver is present on the system.
  2. Retrieve the AMD driver version
    In Device Manager, right-click the AMD graphics device, select Properties, go to the Driver tab, and record the Driver Version. Or, launch the AMD Radeon Software application if installed and navigate to Settings > About to view the software/driver version.
    Affected if The displayed driver version is below 20.11.2 (e.g., 20.10.1, 20.9.2, etc.).
  3. Confirm kernel driver is loaded
    Open an elevated Command Prompt and run 'sc query atikmdag' or 'driverquery | findstr atikmdag' to check if the AMD kernel-mode driver (atikmdag) service is running. Also verify the driver file version by right-clicking atikmdag.sys in System32\drivers and viewing Properties > Details > File Version.
    Affected if The atikmdag driver service exists and is in a running or stopped state, indicating the vulnerable driver component is present on the system.
  4. Cross-reference with affected version range
    Compare the recorded driver version from step 2 against the known affected range: any version of Amd Radeon Software prior to 20.11.2. Note that driver version strings may appear as '27.20.1025.23' format (Windows display driver model) - treat any version where the major.minor.patch is lower than 20.11.2 as affected.
    Affected if The installed driver version string is lower than 20.11.2, or maps to a release prior to the November 2020 AMD driver update.

A system is affected if it has an AMD graphics driver installed with a version lower than 20.11.2 and the atikmdag kernel-mode driver is present on the system.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 20.11.2 or later
Fixed in 20.11.2
Interim mitigation

Apply AMD-provided driver updates; until patched, restrict local untrusted code execution and monitor for indicators of compromise targeting the graphics driver.

Recommended fix High confidence

Radeon Software 20.11.2 or later

  1. Open AMD Radeon Software either from the Start menu or by right-clicking the desktop and selecting 'AMD Radeon Software'
  2. Click the gear icon (Settings) in the top-right corner of the Radeon Software window
  3. Select 'Updates' from the left-hand menu
  4. Click 'Check for Updates' to see if version 20.11.2 or later is available
  5. If an update is available, click 'Download' and then 'Install Now' to apply the fix
  6. Alternatively, visit www.amd.com and navigate to the Drivers & Support section to manually download Radeon Software version 20.11.2 or later for your specific GPU model
  7. Restart your computer after the installation completes
Caveat Driver updates may occasionally cause compatibility issues with older applications; test critical workflows after upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Radeon Software Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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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-2020-12895 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