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Radeon SoftwareApplication · Amd

CVE-2020-12902

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
Arbitrary Decrement Privilege Escalation in AMD Graphics Driver for Windows 10 may lead to escalation of privilege 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

Arbitrary decrement vulnerability in AMD graphics driver for Windows 10 allows an unprivileged user to decrement arbitrary memory values, potentially achieving privilege escalation to kernel level or causing a denial of service.

MitigationApply the AMD-supplied security update for the graphics driver. Verify the installed driver version and confirm the patch is applied through Windows Update or AMD's driver update utility.

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. Identify AMD graphics hardware
    Open Device Manager, expand 'Display adapters' and confirm an AMD Radeon GPU is listed
    Affected if No AMD GPU is found, the system is not affected by this specific vulnerability
  2. Check installed AMD driver version
    Right-click the AMD GPU in Device Manager, select Properties, go to the Driver tab, and note the Driver Version field. Alternatively, open AMD Radeon Software and check the version displayed in the settings or about section
    Affected if Driver version is blank, missing, or cannot be determined
  3. Compare version against vulnerable range
    Compare the installed driver version number to 20.11.2. The version format typically appears as something like 26.x.x.x or 27.x.x.x in Device Manager, or 20.x.x in AMD Radeon Software
    Affected if The installed version is less than 20.11.2 (for example, 20.10.1, 20.9.2, etc.)
  4. Verify driver is for Windows 10
    In Device Manager under the AMD GPU Driver Properties, go to the Driver tab and check the Driver Date and OS compatibility. Confirm the driver is intended for Windows 10
    Affected if The driver is for an operating system other than Windows 10, the specific vulnerability context does not apply

A system is affected if it has an AMD Radeon GPU running on Windows 10 with a graphics driver version earlier than 20.11.2, as versions prior to this contain the arbitrary memory decrement flaw that could allow privilege escalation.

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 AMD-supplied security update for the graphics driver. Verify the installed driver version and confirm the patch is applied through Windows Update or AMD's driver update utility.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Radeon Software version 20.11.2

  1. Open AMD Radeon Software settings or check system information to confirm current version (< 20.11.2)
  2. Visit the official AMD website (www.amd.com) and navigate to the Drivers & Support section
  3. Search for and download Radeon Software version 20.11.2 or later for your specific GPU model and Windows 10
  4. Run the installer with administrator privileges
  5. Follow the on-screen installation prompts and restart the system when required
  6. Verify the installed version is 20.11.2 or later after reboot

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
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,210
Get the upgrade done

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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-2020-12902 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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