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Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical

CVE-2020-5963

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-06-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 390.138 / 392.61 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
NVIDIA Windows GPU Display Driver, all versions, contains a vulnerability in the Inter Process Communication APIs, in which improper access control may lead to code execution, denial of service, or information disclosure.

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

NVIDIA Windows GPU Display Driver contains an improper access control vulnerability in its Inter Process Communication (IPC) APIs. This flaw could allow a local attacker to bypass security controls and potentially achieve code execution, cause denial of service, or gain unauthorized information disclosure.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied patches for NVIDIA GPU display drivers when available. Until patched, restrict access to affected systems and monitor for unusual IPC activity.

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
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 18.04= 19.10= 20.04
Quadro FirmwareOperating system
Affected:>= 390, < 390.138>= 440, < 440.100>= 450, < 450.51>= 390, < 392.61>= 418, < 426.78>= 440, < 443.18>= 450, < 451.48
Tesla FirmwareOperating system
Affected:>= 418, < 418.152.00>= 440, < 440.95.01>= 450, < 450.51.05>= 418, < 426.78>= 440, < 443.18
Geforce FirmwareOperating system
Affected:>= 390, < 390.138>= 440, < 440.100>= 450, < 450.51>= 450, < 451.48
Nvs FirmwareOperating system
Affected:>= 390, < 390.138>= 440, < 440.100>= 450, < 450.51>= 390, < 392.61>= 418, < 426.78>= 440, < 443.18>= 450, < 451.48

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. Check NVIDIA GPU driver version on Windows
    Open NVIDIA Control Panel > System Information, or run 'nvidia-smi' from command line, or check Device Manager > Display adapters > NVIDIA GPU > Driver version
    Affected if Driver version falls within any of these ranges: 390 to <390.138, 440 to <440.100, 450 to <450.51, 418 to <426.78, or 392 to <392.61, 443 to <443.18, 451 to <451.48, 418 to <418.152.00, 440 to <440.95.01, 450 to <450.51.05, 426 to <426.78, 443 to <443.18, 451 to <451.48 (match the applicable product
  2. Identify the specific NVIDIA product line
    Run 'nvidia-smi' or check NVIDIA Control Panel to determine if the GPU is Quadro, Tesla, Geforce, or NVS series
    Affected if The product is any of Quadro, Tesla, Geforce, or NVS with firmware/driver version in the ranges listed for that product
  3. Confirm IPC service is exposed
    Check NVIDIA-related Windows services (NVContainer, NVIDIA Display Container, NVBackend) and review if IPC endpoints are listening. Use 'netstat -an | findstr 5555' or similar for NVIDIA IPC default ports
    Affected if NVIDIA IPC services are running and accessible to local non-privileged users
  4. Check Ubuntu host if running GPU passthrough
    If the Windows GPU driver runs on Ubuntu (via virtualization), check 'dpkg -l | grep nvidia' or 'ubuntu-drivers devices' to list installed NVIDIA packages
    Affected if Ubuntu 18.04, 19.10, or 20.04 with NVIDIA driver packages installed

The environment is affected if NVIDIA GPU driver/firmware version matches any of the version ranges for Quadro, Tesla, Geforce, or NVS and the IPC functionality is enabled and accessible.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 390.138 / 392.61 / 418.152.00 or later
Fixed in 390.138392.61418.152.00
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor-supplied patches for NVIDIA GPU display drivers when available. Until patched, restrict access to affected systems and monitor for unusual IPC activity.

Fix this in Ubuntu Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,760
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2020-5963 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