CVE-2020-5969 in Virtual GPU Manager
Summary
by MITRE
NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager contains a vulnerability in the vGPU plugin, in which it validates a shared resource before using it, creating a race condition which may lead to denial of service or information disclosure. This affects vGPU version 8.x (prior to 8.4), version 9.x (prior to 9.4) and version 10.x (prior to 10.3).
Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/28/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-5969 resides within NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager's vGPU plugin component, representing a critical race condition flaw that undermines the security and stability of virtualized GPU environments. This issue specifically impacts organizations utilizing NVIDIA vGPU technology for virtual desktop infrastructure and cloud computing deployments where multiple virtual machines share physical GPU resources through the vGPU framework.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from improper validation of shared resources within the vGPU plugin's execution flow. During concurrent operations, the system validates shared resources at an inappropriate timing stage in the processing sequence, creating a window where malicious actors or faulty system conditions can exploit the temporal gap between resource validation and actual usage. This race condition occurs when multiple processes or threads attempt to access and modify shared GPU memory or configuration resources simultaneously, leading to inconsistent state management and potential exploitation opportunities.
The operational impact of this vulnerability manifests through two primary security vectors: denial of service and information disclosure. In a denial of service scenario, adversaries can exploit the race condition to cause system instability, application crashes, or complete service interruption within virtual GPU environments, potentially affecting multiple virtual machines running on the same physical host. The information disclosure aspect allows unauthorized access to sensitive data that should remain isolated between virtual environments, potentially exposing confidential information or system configurations that should be protected by the virtualization layer's security boundaries.
This vulnerability directly maps to CWE-362, which describes "Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization," and aligns with several ATT&CK techniques including T1499.004 for Network Denial of Service and T1074.001 for Data Staged for Exfiltration. The attack surface extends to organizations deploying vGPU solutions in enterprise environments, cloud service providers, and virtual desktop infrastructure implementations where multiple tenants share physical GPU resources, making the potential impact widespread across virtualized computing environments.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including upgrading to vGPU versions 8.4, 9.4, or 10.3, depending on their current implementation, as these releases contain the necessary patches to address the race condition. Additionally, system administrators should consider implementing additional monitoring controls to detect anomalous resource access patterns and establish more robust isolation mechanisms between virtual environments. The remediation process requires careful planning to ensure compatibility with existing virtual desktop deployments and application workloads while maintaining security posture against this specific race condition vulnerability.