CVE-2021-1086
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 it allows guests to control unauthorized resources, which may lead to integrity and confidentiality loss or information disclosure. 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 an authorization bypass where guest virtual machines can control unauthorized resources due to improper access control in the vGPU plugin, potentially allowing guests to access resources outside their allocated vGPU scope.
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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
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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Confirm NVIDIA vGPU Manager is installedCheck for the presence of the NVIDIA vGPU Manager package on the hypervisor. On ESXi, run 'esxcli software vib list | grep nvidia' or check the installed VIBs. On XenServer, check the installed packages. On KVM, check for the nvidia-vgpu-mgr package.Affected if The vGPU Manager software is present on the system
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Identify the installed vGPU Manager versionRun the appropriate command to retrieve the vGPU Manager version. On ESXi, use 'esxcli software vib list | grep nvidia' or check the NVIDIA plugin via 'nvidia-smi -v'. On XenServer, run 'xe host-cpu-info'. On KVM, check the nvidia-vgpu-mgr service version.Affected if The version cannot be determined or the system does not have vGPU Manager
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Compare installed version against affected rangesThe affected version ranges are: 8.0 <= version < 8.7, OR 11.0 <= version < 11.4, OR 12.0 <= version < 12.2. Compare your installed version number to these ranges.Affected if The installed version falls within any of the affected ranges (8.0-8.6, 11.0-11.3, or 12.0-12.1)
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Verify vGPU functionality is enabledConfirm that the vGPU plugin or vGPU functionality is actively in use. Check if any VMs are configured with vGPU profiles using 'nvidia-smi' or hypervisor-specific vGPU allocation tools.Affected if vGPU profiles are assigned to virtual machines and the vGPU plugin is actively running
A system is affected if NVIDIA vGPU Manager is installed with a version falling within 8.0-8.6, 11.0-11.3, or 12.0-12.1 and vGPU functionality is enabled for guest virtual machines.
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
Update NVIDIA vGPU to version 12.2, 11.4, or 8.7 or later to obtain the patched Virtual GPU Manager.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-1086 — 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-2021-1086 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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