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NULL Pointer DereferenceWeakness · CWE-476

CVE-2024-0079

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-03-27
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
67/100
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 GPU Display Driver for Windows and Linux contains a vulnerability in the kernel mode layer, where a user in a guest VM can cause a NULL-pointer dereference in the host. A successful exploit of this vulnerability may lead to 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

A user in a guest VM can trigger a NULL-pointer dereference in the NVIDIA GPU Display Driver's kernel mode layer on the host system. This virtualization vulnerability allows a guest VM user to cause denial of service on the host through improper handling in the GPU driver.

MitigationUpdate the NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows and Linux to a patched version that addresses this kernel mode layer vulnerability.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

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
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/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 GPU Display Driver installation
    On Windows, check Programs and Features or run 'driverquery /v | findstr nvidia'. On Linux, check 'lsmod | grep nvidia' or 'nvidia-smi'.
    Affected if NVIDIA GPU Display Driver is installed
  2. Determine driver version
    Run 'nvidia-smi' on Linux or check driver details in Windows Device Manager under Display adapters.
    Affected if Driver version matches or predates the unpatched version listed in NVIDIA's security bulletin
  3. Verify virtualization environment is active
    Check if a hypervisor is running: on Windows, look for Hyper-V, VMware, or VirtualBox services. On Linux, check 'systemctl status libvirtd' or 'lsmode | grep -E "kvm|virt".'
    Affected if A hypervisor is running and the system hosts guest VMs
  4. Confirm GPU virtualization or passthrough is configured
    Check for NVIDIA vGPU, GPU passthrough, or virtualization software configuration files. Look for nvidia-vgpu-mgr service on Linux or vGPU manager in hypervisor settings.
    Affected if GPU virtualization features are enabled on the host
  5. Review system logs for NULL pointer dereference errors
    On Linux, check 'dmesg' or '/var/log/syslog' for 'NULL pointer' or 'nvidia' crash entries. On Windows, check Event Viewer under System logs for NVIDIA driver faults.
    Affected if NULL pointer dereference errors originating from nvidia driver appear in logs

A user is affected if they run a vulnerable NVIDIA GPU Display Driver version with an active hypervisor that exposes the GPU to guest VMs.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update the NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows and Linux to a patched version that addresses this kernel mode layer vulnerability.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,130
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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-2024-0079 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