dbcve.org
Shield ExperienceApplication · Nvidia

CVE-2021-34402

MEDIUM · 6.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-01-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 9.0 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
NVIDIA Tegra kernel driver contains a vulnerability in NVIDIA NVDEC, where a user with high privileges might be able to read from or write to a memory location that is outside the intended boundary of the buffer, which may lead to denial of service, Information disclosure, loss of Integrity, or possible 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

The vulnerability exists in the NVIDIA Tegra kernel driver's NVDEC (NVIDIA video decoder) component. An out-of-bounds memory access occurs when a high-privilege user performs read or write operations beyond the intended buffer boundaries, potentially allowing memory corruption, information disclosure, or privilege escalation.

MitigationApply NVIDIA's Tegra kernel driver firmware updates and patches as they become available. Since this requires high privileges to exploit, ensure least-privilege principles are followed and monitor for suspicious high-privilege operations on affected Tegra devices.

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
Shield ExperienceApplication
Affected:< 9.0

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. Identify NVIDIA Tegra hardware
    Check system information for NVIDIA Tegra processor. On Linux, run 'cat /proc/cpuinfo' or check device tree. On Android devices, check /system/build.prop for 'ro.hardware' containing 'tegra' or review /proc/bus/pci devices for NVIDIA video decoder.
    Affected if System does not use NVIDIA Tegra processor, then not affected
  2. Check Nvidia Shield Experience version
    On the Shield device, go to Settings > About > Shield version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.shield' via ADB. Compare the version number to the < 9.0 affected range.
    Affected if Shield Experience version is below 9.0 (e.g., 8.x, 7.x)
  3. Verify NVDEC kernel driver presence
    Check if the NVDEC video decoder driver is loaded or available. On Linux-based Tegra systems, run 'lsmod' to list loaded modules and look for 'nvdec', 'nvdla', or similar NVIDIA decoder modules. Also check /dev/ for video decoder nodes.
    Affected if NVDEC driver module is present and loaded on the system
  4. Confirm high-privilege access context
    Review which user accounts or processes have elevated privileges on the system. The vulnerability requires a high-privilege user to trigger the out-of-bounds access. Check sudoers configuration, UID 0 accounts, or privileged container/pod contexts.
    Affected if High-privilege user accounts or processes exist and can access the NVDEC component

Affected if the system runs NVIDIA Tegra hardware with Shield Experience version below 9.0 AND has the NVDEC driver active, especially when high-privilege access is available to users.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 9.0 or later
Fixed in 9.0
Interim mitigation

Apply NVIDIA's Tegra kernel driver firmware updates and patches as they become available. Since this requires high privileges to exploit, ensure least-privilege principles are followed and monitor for suspicious high-privilege operations on affected Tegra devices.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Shield Experience 9.0 or later

  1. Upgrade the NVIDIA Shield device to Shield Experience version 9.0 or later to address the vulnerability

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Shield Experience Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
40.0 hours of engineering $7,000
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $11,200.

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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-2021-34402 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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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