CVE-2021-1052
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 GPU Display Driver for Windows and Linux, all versions, contains a vulnerability in the kernel mode layer (nvlddmkm.sys) handler for DxgkDdiEscape or IOCTL in which user-mode clients can access legacy privileged APIs, which may lead to denial of service, escalation of privileges, and 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 · high confidenceNVIDIA GPU Display Driver contains a kernel mode layer vulnerability (nvlddmkm.sys) where the DxgkDdiEscape or IOCTL handler improperly allows user-mode clients to access legacy privileged APIs, enabling potential denial of service, privilege escalation, or information disclosure.
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, < 392.63>= 418, < 427.11>= 450, < 452.77>= 460, < 461.09>= 390, < 390.141>= 450, < 450.102.04>= 460, < 460.32.03CVSS 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 NVIDIA GPU presenceOpen Device Manager, expand 'Display adapters', and look for any NVIDIA GPU (e.g., NVIDIA GeForce, Quadro, or Tesla series). Alternatively, run 'nvidia-smi' from command line if the driver is installed.Affected if If an NVIDIA GPU is present and the display driver is installed, proceed to version check.
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Retrieve installed NVIDIA driver versionRun 'nvidia-smi' in an elevated command prompt or PowerShell. Note the 'Driver Version' shown in the output (format like 460.89 or 450.102.04).Affected if The version displayed is the driver version that must be compared against the affected ranges.
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Confirm driver file versionLocate nvlddmkm.sys in the system driver folder (typically C:\Windows\System32\drivers\). Right-click the file, select Properties, and check the 'File version' field under the Details tab.Affected if The file version should match the driver version from nvidia-smi; use this to verify accuracy.
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Compare against affected version rangesCompare your installed driver version to the following ranges: >=390 and <390.141; >=390 and <392.63; >=418 and <427.11; >=450 and <450.102.04; >=450 and <452.77; >=460 and <460.32.03; >=460 and <461.09.Affected if If your version falls within any of these ranges, your environment is affected by CVE-2021-1052.
You are affected if an NVIDIA GPU with a display driver version matching any of the listed vulnerable ranges (>=390 to <392.63, >=418 to <427.11, >=450 to <452.77, >=460 to <461.09, or the specific sub-range variants) is installed on your system.
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 data390.141392.63427.11
Apply the NVIDIA GPU driver update/patch provided by NVIDIA to address this kernel mode vulnerability. Prioritize testing in non-production environments due to kernel-level changes.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-1052 — 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-2021-1052 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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