Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian
CVE-2021-1056
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 Linux, all versions, contains a vulnerability in the kernel mode layer (nvidia.ko) in which it does not completely honor operating system file system permissions to provide GPU device-level isolation, which may lead to 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 confidenceThe NVIDIA GPU kernel module (nvidia.ko) fails to properly honor operating system file system permissions when providing GPU device-level isolation. This allows a local attacker with access to the system to potentially bypass permission checks, accessing GPU resources they should not have access to, leading to denial of service 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
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 9.0>= 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
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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 versionRun 'nvidia-smi' or check '/proc/driver/nvidia/version' to determine the installed driver version numberAffected if The installed driver version falls within an affected range: >= 390 and < 390.141, >= 450 and < 450.102.04, or >= 460 and < 460.32.03
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Verify NVIDIA kernel module is loadedRun 'lsmod | grep nvidia' to confirm the nvidia kernel module is currently loaded in memoryAffected if The nvidia.ko module is loaded and the driver version is in an affected range from step 1
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Confirm GPU device files existList files matching '/dev/nvidia*' to verify GPU device nodes are present on the systemAffected if GPU device files exist and the driver version is in an affected range from step 1
A system is affected by this CVE when it runs an NVIDIA GPU driver version within the vulnerable ranges (390.x < 390.141, 450.x < 450.102.04, or 460.x < 460.32.03) and has the nvidia kernel module loaded with GPU device files present.
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 data390.141450.102.04460.32.03
Update to the patched NVIDIA GPU driver version addressing this vulnerability, or implement supplementary access controls such as udev rules or SELinux policies to restrict access to GPU device files (/dev/nvidia*) to authorized users only.
Fix this in Debian Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,168.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-1056 — 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-2021-1056 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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