CVE-2020-12986
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 · uneditedAn insufficient pointer validation vulnerability in the AMD Graphics Driver for Windows 10 may cause arbitrary code execution in the kernel, leading 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 · high confidenceThis is a kernel-mode privilege escalation vulnerability in AMD's Windows 10 graphics driver caused by insufficient pointer validation. An attacker can exploit the lack of proper pointer validation to achieve arbitrary code execution in kernel mode, leading to complete system compromise via privilege escalation or denial of service through system crashes.
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< 21.q1< 20.7.1CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify AMD graphics hardwareOpen Device Manager, expand 'Display adapters' to see if an AMD Radeon GPU is present in the systemAffected if No AMD GPU found means this CVE does not apply to the system
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Check AMD Radeon Software versionOpen AMD Radeon Software, click the settings gear icon, then click 'About' to display the driver version numberAffected if The displayed version is below 20.7.1 for Radeon Software or below 21.q1 for Radeon Pro Software
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Check driver version via WindowsOpen Device Manager, right-click the AMD GPU, select 'Properties', go to the 'Driver' tab, and note the driver version fieldAffected if The driver version shown is earlier than 20.7.1 (Radeon) or earlier than 21.q1 (Radeon Pro)
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Verify driver is Windows 10 kernel-modeCheck the driver file properties in C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\ for files starting with 'atikmdag' or search for AMD display drivers loaded in kernel mode using 'driverquery /v' commandAffected if AMD kernel-mode display driver is loaded and version is unpatched
A system is affected if it has an AMD GPU running a graphics driver version below 20.7.1 (Radeon) or below 21.q1 (Radeon Pro) on Windows 10, as the insufficient pointer validation flaw in the kernel-mode driver would be present.
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 data20.7.121.q1
Apply the AMD graphics driver update that addresses this vulnerability once released. Deploy the patched driver across all affected systems to prevent exploitation.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-12986 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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- 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
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