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Radeon SoftwareApplication · Amd

CVE-2020-12963

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
An insufficient pointer validation vulnerability in the AMD Graphics Driver for Windows may allow unprivileged users to compromise the system.

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

Insufficient pointer validation in the AMD Graphics Driver for Windows allows unprivileged local users to exploit improper pointer handling in kernel-mode driver code, potentially achieving elevated privileges through memory corruption or arbitrary code execution.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied AMD graphics driver update/patch to address the pointer validation weakness. Organizations should deploy the update through standard patch management processes and verify driver stability post-update.

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 installed AMD Radeon Software version
    Open Windows Settings > Apps & Features, or open the AMD Radeon Software UI and check About/Help section, or run 'wmic product get name,version' in command prompt
    Affected if Version displayed is below 20.11.2 or cannot be determined to be 20.11.2 or higher
  2. Check AMD graphics driver file version
    Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\ and locate the amdricu*.sys or atikmdag*.sys driver files. Right-click and select Properties > Details to view the File Version
    Affected if Driver file version is below the version bundled with AMD Radeon Software 20.11.2 (exact version number varies by driver component)
  3. Verify kernel-mode driver is loaded
    Open Device Manager, expand 'Display adapters', and confirm an AMD GPU is listed with an active driver. Alternatively, run 'sc query amdacct' or 'driverquery | findstr -i amd' in command prompt
    Affected if AMD graphics driver kernel-mode component is actively loaded on the system
  4. Confirm unpatched driver is in use
    Run 'systeminfo' and check the BIOS version matches your hardware, then cross-reference the driver date shown in Device Manager under the AMD GPU driver properties against the 2020-2021 timeframe
    Affected if Driver installation date is prior to the November 2020 release of version 20.11.2

The system is affected if AMD Radeon Software version is below 20.11.2 and the AMD graphics kernel-mode driver is actively loaded on Windows.

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 to address the pointer validation weakness. Organizations should deploy the update through standard patch management processes and verify driver stability post-update.

Recommended fix High confidence

Radeon Software version 20.11.2 or later

  1. Check the current version of Radeon Software installed on the system by opening Radeon Settings and navigating to the System tab
  2. Download Radeon Software version 20.11.2 or later from the official AMD website at www.amd.com
  3. Run the downloaded installer and follow the on-screen prompts to update the graphics driver
  4. Restart the computer after the installation completes to ensure the new driver loads properly
  5. Verify the installed driver version matches 20.11.2 or later through the Radeon Settings System tab
Caveat Standard graphics driver update; ensure compatibility with existing applications before deployment

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 / QA2.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,390
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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-2020-12963 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