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Radeon SoftwareApplication · Amd

CVE-2020-12899

HIGH · 7.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-11-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 20.11.2 or later.
See remediation →
73/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Arbitrary Read in AMD Graphics Driver for Windows 10 may lead to KASLR bypass 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

This is an arbitrary memory read vulnerability in the AMD graphics driver for Windows 10. The flaw allows an attacker to read arbitrary memory locations in kernel space, which can be exploited to leak kernel addresses (bypassing KASLR protection) or cause a denial of service by reading invalid memory regions.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied AMD graphics driver update/patch for Windows 10. If an official patch is unavailable, consider disabling the affected driver or implementing additional monitoring for suspicious driver behavior.

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
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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 Software version
    Open the AMD Radeon Software application, then navigate to Settings > System > System Information, or right-click on the desktop and select AMD Radeon Software > System > System Information to view the installed driver version.
    Affected if The displayed version number is lower than 20.11.2 (for example, 20.10.1, 20.9.2, etc.)
  2. Verify Windows 10 is the operating system
    Open System Information (msinfo32) or right-click This PC > Properties and confirm the Windows edition is Windows 10.
    Affected if The operating system is Windows 10 and the AMD driver version is below 20.11.2
  3. Check driver version via registry
    Open Registry Editor (regedit), navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\atikmdag\Device0, and look for the DriverVersion value in the right pane.
    Affected if The DriverVersion string value is less than 20.11.2 (for example, 27.20.1034 corresponds to version 20.10.34, which is below the fixed version)
  4. Confirm driver is loaded and active
    Open Device Manager, expand Display adapters, confirm the AMD Radeon graphics device shows as working properly without errors, and verify the driver date is older than November 2020.
    Affected if The driver is active and its version/date indicates it predates the 20.11.2 patch release

A user is affected if they are running Windows 10 with an AMD Radeon Software version earlier than 20.11.2, as this version introduced the fix for the arbitrary memory read vulnerability.

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 the vendor-supplied AMD graphics driver update/patch for Windows 10. If an official patch is unavailable, consider disabling the affected driver or implementing additional monitoring for suspicious driver behavior.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Radeon Software 20.11.2 or later

  1. Navigate to the official AMD website (www.amd.com) and locate the drivers and support section for Radeon graphics products
  2. Select your specific graphics card model and Windows 10 operating system
  3. Download the Radeon Software version 20.11.2 or later (the latest available version recommended)
  4. Run the downloaded installer and follow the on-screen instructions to install the updated graphics driver
  5. Restart your computer after the installation completes to ensure the new driver is fully loaded
  6. Verify the installed driver version matches 20.11.2 or later through the Radeon Software settings
Caveat Driver updates typically have minimal breaking changes but may require reconfiguration of custom performance settings; ensure backup of existing settings if needed

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

Fix this in Radeon Software Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,480
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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-2020-12899 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