Jetson LinuxOperating system · Nvidia

CVE-2021-34372

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-06-22
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 32.5.1 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

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 · unedited
Trusty (the trusted OS produced by NVIDIA for Jetson devices) driver contains a vulnerability in the NVIDIA OTE protocol message parsing code where an integer overflow in a malloc() size calculation leads to a buffer overflow on the heap, which might result in information disclosure, escalation of privileges, and denial of service.

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 confidence

Integer overflow in NVIDIA OTE protocol message parsing code within Trusty (the trusted OS for Jetson devices) causes malloc() to allocate an undersized buffer, leading to heap-based buffer overflow. This can enable information disclosure, privilege escalation, or denial of service.

MitigationApply NVIDIA firmware updates for affected Jetson devices once available; monitor NVIDIA security advisories for patch releases. Consider restricting network exposure of affected devices until firmware is updated.

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
Jetson LinuxOperating system
Affected:< 32.5.1

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm the device is a Jetson platform
    Inspect /proc/cpuinfo for NVIDIA Tegra identifiers, or check /sys/firmware/devicetree/base/model for Jetson model information
    Affected if The device is not an NVIDIA Jetson product (the vulnerability only affects Jetson devices running Trusty)
  2. Identify the Jetson Linux version
    Check the L4T version by reviewing /etc/nv_tegra_release or running 'dpkg -l | grep -i nvidia-l4t' on the device
    Affected if The installed Jetson Linux version is earlier than 32.5.1 (versions prior to 32.5.1 contain the vulnerable code)
  3. Verify Trusty trusted OS is present
    Inspect /trusty or /vendor for Trusty-related directories and binaries, or check the bootloader configuration for Trusty initialization
    Affected if Trusty is not present (the vulnerability exists specifically within the Trusty OTE protocol message parsing code)
  4. Check if OTE protocol handling is enabled
    Review running Trusty services or check configuration files under /trusty for OTE protocol message parsing components
    Affected if OTE protocol handling is actively used by the system (the flaw triggers during OTE message parsing when Trusty processes these messages)

The environment is affected if it is a Jetson device running Jetson Linux version 32.5 or earlier, with Trusty and OTE protocol processing enabled.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 32.5.1 or later
Fixed in 32.5.1
Interim mitigation

Apply NVIDIA firmware updates for affected Jetson devices once available; monitor NVIDIA security advisories for patch releases. Consider restricting network exposure of affected devices until firmware is updated.

Fix this in Jetson Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,840
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-34372 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data