CVE-2020-5957
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 · uneditedNVIDIA Windows GPU Display Driver, all versions, contains a vulnerability in the NVIDIA Control Panel component in which an attacker with local system access can corrupt a system file, which may lead to denial of service or escalation of privileges.
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 confidenceNVIDIA Windows GPU Display Driver contains a vulnerability in the NVIDIA Control Panel component where a local attacker with system access can corrupt a system file, leading to denial of service or privilege escalation.
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>= 390, < 392.59>= 418, < 426.50>= 430, < 432.28>= 440, < 442.50>= 440, < 442.50>= 440, < 440.33.01CVSS 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 installed NVIDIA driver or firmware versionOpen Windows Device Manager, expand Display adapters, right-click the NVIDIA GPU and select Properties. In the Driver tab, note the Driver Version. For Tesla/Quadro firmware, check via nvidia-smi CLI tool or your system's firmware management tool.Affected if The displayed driver version falls within any of these ranges: 390.x to 392.58, 418.x to 426.49, 430.x to 432.27, or 440.x to 442.49 (for Quadro/Geforce). For Tesla: 440.x to 440.33.00.
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Verify NVIDIA Control Panel is installedOpen Windows Settings > Apps > Apps & features, and search for 'NVIDIA Control Panel' or 'NVIDIA Display Control Panel'. Alternatively, right-click on the Windows desktop and look for 'NVIDIA Control Panel' in the context menu.Affected if NVIDIA Control Panel is present on the system.
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Check for suspicious modifications to system filesOpen an elevated Command Prompt and run 'sfc /scannow' to scan for corrupted system files. Also compare file hashes of critical system files in C:\Windows\System32 against known-good baselines if available.Affected if The sfc scan reports corrupted files, or unexpected modifications are found in system files that NVIDIA Control Panel has permission to modify.
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Determine user access level on the systemOpen Control Panel > User Accounts > Manage another account, or run 'whoami /all' in Command Prompt to list current user privileges and group memberships.Affected if The user has local system or administrator-level access, which is required to exploit this vulnerability.
You are affected if NVIDIA Control Panel is installed and the driver/firmware version matches any of the vulnerable version ranges listed, and the user has local system access.
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 data392.59426.50432.28
Update NVIDIA Windows GPU Display Driver to the patched version as specified in NVIDIA's security bulletin. Until patched, limit local system access and monitor for suspicious activity.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-5957 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
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-2020-5957 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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