CVE-2023-31024 in DGX A100
Summary
by MITRE • 01/12/2024
NVIDIA DGX A100 BMC contains a vulnerability in the host KVM daemon, where an unauthenticated attacker may cause stack memory corruption by sending a specially crafted network packet. A successful exploit of this vulnerability may lead to arbitrary code execution, denial of service, information disclosure, and data tampering.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/02/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-31024 affects the NVIDIA DGX A100 Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) system, specifically within the host KVM daemon implementation. This represents a critical security flaw that resides in the remote management infrastructure of high-performance computing systems used extensively in artificial intelligence research and data center environments. The DGX A100 platform serves as a cornerstone for large-scale machine learning workloads, making the exploitation of such vulnerabilities particularly concerning for organizations relying on these systems for sensitive computational tasks.
The technical flaw manifests as a stack memory corruption vulnerability within the KVM daemon responsible for managing virtual machine operations through the BMC interface. This vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and memory handling within the network packet processing routines of the daemon. An attacker can exploit this weakness by transmitting a maliciously crafted network packet to the affected BMC system, which then fails to properly validate or sanitize the incoming data before processing it within the stack memory space. The improper handling of the packet results in memory corruption that can be leveraged to execute arbitrary code within the context of the KVM daemon process, potentially compromising the entire system.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple exploitation capabilities to encompass multiple critical security risks that can severely affect enterprise environments. Successful exploitation enables an unauthenticated attacker to achieve arbitrary code execution on the BMC system, which provides direct access to the underlying hardware management functions and potentially the entire compute cluster. The vulnerability can also result in denial of service conditions that disrupt critical AI training and inference operations, while simultaneously enabling information disclosure that may expose sensitive configuration data, user credentials, or system internals. Data tampering capabilities further compound the threat by allowing attackers to modify system configurations or corrupt operational parameters that govern the DGX A100's performance and security posture.
Organizations utilizing NVIDIA DGX A100 systems must implement immediate mitigations to address this vulnerability, as the attack surface includes unauthenticated network access points that are commonly exposed in data center environments. The primary mitigation strategy involves applying the latest firmware updates provided by NVIDIA that contain patches for the KVM daemon memory handling routines. Network segmentation and access control measures should be implemented to restrict direct network access to BMC interfaces, particularly in environments where the BMC is exposed to untrusted networks. Additionally, monitoring systems should be enhanced to detect anomalous packet patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts, while regular security assessments should be conducted to identify potential bypasses or additional vulnerabilities within the BMC ecosystem. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-121, heap-based buffer overflow, and represents a significant risk under the ATT&CK framework's privilege escalation and defense evasion techniques, particularly when considering the high-value targets these systems represent in enterprise computing environments.