Jetson LinuxOperating system · Nvidia

CVE-2021-34383

MEDIUM · 6.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-06-30
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 32.5.1 or later.
See remediation →
69/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Bootloader contains a vulnerability in NVIDIA MB2 where a potential heap overflow might lead to denial of service or escalation of privileges.

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 confidence

A heap overflow vulnerability exists in the NVIDIA MB2 bootloader that allows an attacker to overflow heap memory, potentially leading to denial of service or privilege escalation. The vulnerability stems from insufficient bounds checking during heap operations in the bootloader phase.

MitigationApply the NVIDIA firmware/security update for MB2 bootloader once released. Verify secure boot configurations and ensure only signed bootloader images are accepted.

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
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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 Jetson device type
    Run 'cat /proc/device-tree/model' or check for /etc/nv_tegra_release to verify the system is an NVIDIA Jetson device
    Affected if The system is not a Jetson device - this CVE only applies to Jetson Linux on Jetson hardware
  2. Check Jetson Linux version
    Run 'cat /etc/nv_tegra_release' and look for the L4T release version number in the format R32.x
    Affected if The Jetson Linux version shown is below 32.5.1 (for example, R32.4 or R32.5) - the system falls within the affected version range
  3. Identify MB2 bootloader version
    Check the bootloader binary in /boot/ or U-Boot environment using 'ls -la /boot/' and look for mb2 related files, or check bootloader logs at boot time for MB2 version strings
    Affected if Unable to verify MB2 bootloader is updated; the bootloader component itself cannot be confirmed as patched
  4. Verify secure boot status
    Check if U-Boot or the bootloader chain has secure boot enabled by inspecting boot configuration files or running 'tegrasign --pubkeykey' tools if available
    Affected if Secure boot is not enforced, allowing potentially vulnerable unsigned bootloader images to load

The environment is affected if it is a Jetson device running Jetson Linux version below 32.5.1 with an unpatched MB2 bootloader and secure boot not enforced.

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 the NVIDIA firmware/security update for MB2 bootloader once released. Verify secure boot configurations and ensure only signed bootloader images are accepted.

Fix this in Jetson Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-34383 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-34383 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