CVE-2021-1085
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 vGPU driver contains a vulnerability in the Virtual GPU Manager (vGPU plugin), where there is the potential to write to a shared memory location and manipulate the data after the data has been validated, which may lead to denial of service and escalation of privileges and information disclosure but attacker doesn't have control over what information is obtained. This affects vGPU version 12.x (prior to 12.2), version 11.x (prior to 11.4) and version 8.x (prior to 8.7).
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 vGPU Manager contains a time-of-check to time-of-use (TOCTOU) vulnerability where an attacker can write to a shared memory location and manipulate data after it has been validated, leading to potential denial of service, privilege escalation, and 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>= 8.0, < 8.7>= 11.0, < 11.4>= 12.0, < 12.2CVSS 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
- Low
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/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 the installed vGPU Manager versionUse the hypervisor's package management or version query command to retrieve the NVIDIA vGPU Manager package version (for example, 'esxcli software vib get' on VMware ESXi or equivalent command for your hypervisor)Affected if The installed version falls within the vulnerable ranges: 8.0 to 8.6, 11.0 to 11.3, or 12.0 to 12.1
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Confirm vGPU plugin is loadedCheck the status of the vGPU plugin or module on the hypervisor host (for example, list loaded kernel modules or check hypervisor-specific plugin status)Affected if The vGPU plugin/module is loaded and active on the system
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Verify vGPU virtual devices are configuredInspect the VM configuration or hypervisor inventory to determine if any virtual machines have vGPU devices assigned (such as vGPU profile or graphics device passthrough)Affected if vGPU virtual devices are assigned to any virtual machines on the host
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Check for shared memory usage in vGPU operationsExamine the hypervisor's vGPU configuration or logs for evidence of shared memory operations between vGPU componentsAffected if Shared memory is used by vGPU components for inter-process communication
The system is affected if the installed vGPU Manager version is 8.0-8.6, 11.0-11.3, or 12.0-12.1 AND the vGPU plugin is enabled and actively using shared memory for vGPU operations.
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 data8.711.412.2
Upgrade NVIDIA vGPU to version 12.2, 11.4, or 8.7 or later to address the vulnerability in the vGPU plugin.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-1085 — 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-2021-1085 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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