CVE-2024-0077 in vGPU Driver
Summary
by MITRE • 03/28/2024
NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager contains a vulnerability in the vGPU plugin, where it allows a guest OS to allocate resources for which the guest OS is not authorized. A successful exploit of this vulnerability may lead to code execution, denial of service, escalation of privileges, information disclosure, and data tampering.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/28/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-0077 resides within NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager's vGPU plugin component, representing a critical authorization flaw that undermines the fundamental security boundaries of virtualized GPU environments. This issue manifests as an improper access control mechanism that permits guest operating systems to request and potentially utilize GPU resources beyond their designated allocation limits, effectively bypassing the hypervisor's resource management controls.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient validation mechanisms within the vGPU plugin's resource allocation routines. When guest operating systems submit resource requests to the virtual GPU manager, the system fails to adequately verify whether the requesting guest has proper authorization rights for the requested GPU resources. This authorization gap creates a pathway for malicious actors to manipulate resource allocation requests, potentially leading to unauthorized access to GPU compute capabilities, memory allocation, and other hardware resources that should remain restricted to authorized virtual machines.
The operational impact of CVE-2024-0077 extends beyond simple privilege escalation, encompassing multiple critical security domains that align with attack patterns documented in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under techniques such as privilege escalation and defense evasion. An attacker exploiting this vulnerability could execute arbitrary code within the virtualized environment, potentially compromising the entire virtualization infrastructure. The vulnerability also enables denial of service conditions where legitimate virtual machines might be starved of resources, while simultaneously providing opportunities for information disclosure and data tampering operations that could affect sensitive workloads running on the affected systems.
From a compliance and security standards perspective, this vulnerability directly contravenes principles established in CWE-284, which addresses improper access control, and CWE-310, which covers cryptographic issues, as the flaw enables unauthorized resource access that could compromise system integrity. Organizations utilizing NVIDIA vGPU solutions in enterprise environments face significant risks including potential data breaches, system compromise, and regulatory non-compliance. The vulnerability particularly affects virtual desktop infrastructure deployments, cloud computing environments, and any scenario where multiple tenants share GPU resources through virtualization technologies.
Mitigation strategies should include immediate implementation of NVIDIA's security patches and updates, followed by comprehensive monitoring of resource allocation patterns to detect anomalous behavior. Organizations should also implement additional network segmentation controls, enhance logging and auditing capabilities for GPU resource usage, and consider temporary restrictions on guest OS capabilities until full remediation is achieved. Security teams must conduct thorough risk assessments of their virtualized environments and implement principle of least privilege configurations for all virtual GPU resource assignments to minimize the potential impact of such authorization bypass vulnerabilities.