CVE-2026-47523

A flaw was found in the NVIDIA GPU display driver. A local user with low privileges can trigger an out-of-bounds write memory error in the kernel mode layer. Successful exploitation could lead to privilege escalation and arbitrary code execution with kernel permissions, cause a Denial of Service (DoS) by crashing the system, or result in unauthorized data tampering and information disclosure.

This vulnerability is rated as an Important severity because it allows a local authenticated user with standard privileges to achieve arbitrary code execution in the context of the host kernel. The defect exists within the proprietary kernel mode component, allowing memory corruption that can lead to complete privilege escalation or system crashes. Systems are only affected if NVIDIA hardware is installed and the proprietary display driver module is loaded. Because the flaw cannot be triggered across the network without existing local shell access, the blast radius is constrained to local multi-tenant environments.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.

Prevent the NVIDIA kernel driver module from being loaded if GPU functionality is not required.

1. Create a configuration file to disable module loading: echo "install nvidia /bin/true" > /etc/modprobe.d/disable-nvidia.conf

2. If the module is currently loaded, unload it: modprobe -r nvidia

Caveats: Disabling the driver disables GPU acceleration, CUDA processing, and display management relying on the hardware.

Warning: Unloading the module or terminating display processes may disrupt active graphical sessions or running compute jobs. A system restart or display manager restart may be required for the change to take full effect.