CVE-2020-5987
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 guest-supplied parameters remain writable by the guest after the plugin has validated them, which may lead to the guest being able to pass invalid parameters to plugin handlers, which may lead to denial of service or escalation of privileges. This affects vGPU version 8.x (prior to 8.5), version 10.x (prior to 10.4) and version 11.0.
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 contains a vulnerability in the vGPU plugin where guest-supplied parameters remain writable by the guest after the plugin has validated them. This allows a guest VM to modify parameters post-validation and pass invalid parameters to plugin handlers, potentially causing 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>= 8.0, < 8.5>= 10.0, < 10.4= 11.0CVSS 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 Virtual GPU Manager versionQuery the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager package or agent version on the hypervisor host. This may be available through the hypervisor's management interface, package manager, or NVIDIA system management tools.Affected if The installed version falls within 8.0 to before 8.5, OR 10.0 to before 10.4, OR exactly version 11.0.
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Confirm vGPU functionality is enabledVerify that the system is configured to provide virtual GPU capabilities to guest VMs. Check the hypervisor configuration for active vGPU profiles or vGPU-enabled virtual machines.Affected if vGPU support is enabled and guests can request or interact with vGPU resources.
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Determine if untrusted guest VMs have accessAssess whether the hypervisor hosts guest VMs that are not fully trusted or that could supply arbitrary parameters to the vGPU plugin.Affected if Untrusted or potentially compromised guest VMs have vGPU access.
The environment is affected if the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager version is 8.0 through 8.4, 10.0 through 10.3, or exactly 11.0, and vGPU functionality is enabled with access available to guest VMs.
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 data8.510.4
Update NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager to version 8.5, 10.4, or later (or latest 11.x) to patch the parameter validation bypass vulnerability in the vGPU plugin.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-5987 — 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-2020-5987 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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