CVE-2021-1074
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 installer contains a vulnerability where an attacker with local unprivileged system access may be able to replace an application resource with malicious files. This attack requires a user with system administration rights to execute the installer and requires the attacker to replace the files in a very short time window between file integrity validation and execution. Such an attack may lead to code execution, escalation of privileges, denial of service, 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 confidenceThis is a Time-of-Check to Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) race condition vulnerability in the NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows installer. An unprivileged local attacker can replace application resources with malicious files during the narrow window between file integrity validation and execution when an administrator runs the installer, potentially achieving code execution with elevated privileges.
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, < 392.65CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/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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Check installed NVIDIA GPU driver versionOpen Device Manager, expand Display adapters, right-click the NVIDIA GPU device, select Properties, and view the Driver version field. Alternatively, run 'nvidia-smi' from command prompt if available, or check Programs and Features for NVIDIA driver entry.Affected if The displayed driver version is 390.x or higher but lower than 392.65
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Confirm driver family is in vulnerable rangeVerify the first portion of the version number matches 390 or higher. For example, versions like 391.xx, 392.xx (before 392.65), or any 390.xx release indicate the driver was installed with a vulnerable installer.Affected if The version begins with 390, 391, or 392.64/lower, confirming it falls within >= 390 and < 392.65
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Identify if installer was run with elevated privilegesRecall or audit whether administrators have executed NVIDIA driver installers on this system. The TOCTOU race requires an admin to run the installer - check system event logs or installation history if available.Affected if Administrator-run installers were used on this system with a driver version in the vulnerable range
You are affected if the currently installed NVIDIA GPU Display Driver version is 390.x or higher but lower than 392.65, meaning the installer used to deploy it was vulnerable to the TOCTOU race condition.
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 data392.65
Apply the NVIDIA driver update containing the fix; restrict physical and local access to systems where installers are run; consider running installers in isolated/virtual environments to limit exposure to the race window.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-1074 — 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-2021-1074 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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