CVE-2021-34380
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 · uneditedBootloader contains a vulnerability in NVIDIA MB2 where potential heap overflow might cause corruption of the heap metadata, which might lead to arbitrary code execution, denial of service, and information disclosure during secure boot.
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 confidenceA heap overflow vulnerability exists in NVIDIA MB2 bootloader that allows corruption of heap metadata during the secure boot process, potentially enabling arbitrary code execution, denial of service, 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< 32.5.1CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if the system is a NVIDIA Jetson deviceRun 'cat /proc/device-tree/model' or 'cat /sys/firmware/devicetree/base/model' to read the device model stringAffected if The output does not contain 'Jetson' (e.g., Jetson Nano, Jetson Xavier, Jetson Orin)
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Check Jetson Linux versionRun 'cat /etc/nv_tegra_release' or check 'dpkg -l | grep nvidia-l4t' to retrieve the installed Jetson Linux (L4T) versionAffected if The version number displayed is less than 32.5.1 (e.g., 32.4.4, 32.5.0)
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Check MB2 bootloader version if accessibleOn Jetson devices, inspect the MB2 bootloader binary version via 'tegradevflash --version' or check the bootloader partition using 'sudo cat /proc/cmdline' for boot-related parametersAffected if The MB2 bootloader version cannot be verified or is shown as older than the patched version corresponding to L4T 32.5.1
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Determine if secure boot is enabledCheck secure boot status via 'sudo nvbootctrl dump-gpt' or review UEFI/secure boot configuration in the bootloader settings; look for 'secureboot enabled' indicators in boot logsAffected if Secure boot is enabled, as this is the attack vector through which heap metadata corruption occurs
The system is affected if it is a NVIDIA Jetson device running Jetson Linux (L4T) version below 32.5.1 with secure boot enabled, as the heap overflow in the MB2 bootloader requires these conditions to be exploitable.
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 data32.5.1
Apply NVIDIA's firmware/security update for the MB2 bootloader to patch the heap overflow vulnerability; verify secure boot chain integrity after update.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-34380 — 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-2021-34380 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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