CVE-2020-5972
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 Virtual GPU Manager contains a vulnerability in the vGPU plugin, in which local pointer variables are not initialized and may be freed later, which may lead to tampering or denial of service. This affects vGPU version 8.x (prior to 8.4), version 9.x (prior to 9.4) and version 10.x (prior to 10.3).
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 Virtual GPU Manager vGPU plugin contains uninitialized local pointer variables that may be freed later, leading to potential use-after-free memory corruption. This can result in tampering or denial of service for workloads running on affected vGPU deployments.
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>= 8.0, <= 8.3>= 9.0, <= 9.3>= 10.0, <= 10.2CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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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Check if NVIDIA vGPU Manager is installedRun 'nvidia-smi -q' or 'nvidia-smi' on the hypervisor host to query GPU status. On ESXi, run 'esxcli software vib list | grep -i nvidia'. On other hypervisors, check for nvidia-vgpu-manager or vgpu packages.Affected if No NVIDIA vGPU software is installed, then the system is not affected.
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Identify the vGPU Manager versionRun 'nvidia-smi' and look for the driver version in the output. On ESXi, run 'esxcli software vib list' and note the version number for nvidia-vgpu-manager packages.Affected if The displayed version falls within 8.0-8.3, 9.0-9.3, or 10.0-10.2, indicating the affected range.
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Verify vGPU plugin is configuredCheck for active vGPU virtual machines or vGPU profiles on the hypervisor. Run 'nvidia-smi -L' to list vGPU instances, or check hypervisor-specific vGPU configuration files and VM settings.Affected if vGPU plugin is not configured or no vGPU VMs exist, the exploit surface is not present though the vulnerable software may still be installed.
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Confirm vGPU driver component versionQuery the vGPU Manager specific driver version. On ESXi, examine the installed VIB version with 'esxcli software vib get -n nvidia-vgpu-manager'. Compare the version string against the affected ranges.Affected if The vGPU Manager driver version matches 8.x (8.0-8.3), 9.x (9.0-9.3), or 10.x (10.0-10.2).
The environment is affected if NVIDIA vGPU Manager is installed and its version falls within 8.0 through 8.3, 9.0 through 9.3, or 10.0 through 10.2, with vGPU plugin functionality in use.
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 dataUpdate vGPU Manager to version 8.4, 9.4, or 10.3 or later to patch the uninitialized pointer vulnerability. This is a local vulnerability requiring administrative access to the hypervisor host.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-5972 — 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-2020-5972 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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