CVE-2026-47566 in GeForce
Summary
by MITRE • 09/30/2026
NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Linux contains a vulnerability in the kernel mode layer where an unprivileged user could cause a memory leak in error paths leading to kernel memory exhaustion. A successful exploit of this vulnerability might lead to denial of service.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/30/2026
The identified security flaw resides within the NVIDIA Graphics Processing Unit display driver for Linux, specifically targeting the kernel-mode execution environment. This architectural layer operates with high privileges and manages critical hardware resources directly. The vulnerability manifests as a memory leak that occurs exclusively during specific error handling paths within the driver code. Under normal operational conditions, these error paths are triggered by exceptional circumstances or invalid inputs; however, an unprivileged user can deliberately craft requests to force the system into these states repeatedly. When such errors occur, the driver fails to properly release allocated kernel memory structures back to the pool, resulting in a gradual accumulation of unreleased memory allocations within the kernel space.
This persistent allocation without corresponding deallocation leads directly to kernel memory exhaustion over time. As the available free memory in the kernel address space diminishes, the operating system's ability to manage processes and hardware interrupts is severely compromised. The primary operational impact of this vulnerability is a denial of service condition. Since the leak occurs within the kernel mode layer, it affects the stability of the entire host system rather than just the user-space application that triggered the error. Eventually, the system may become unresponsive or crash entirely as critical memory resources are depleted, preventing legitimate users from accessing computing services and disrupting business continuity on affected systems.
From a classification perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-401, which describes missing release of memory after effective lifetime, specifically in contexts where error handling paths fail to clean up allocated resources. The attack vector is categorized under local privilege escalation or denial of service via resource exhaustion, mapping closely to MITRE ATT&CK technique T1499, Endpoint Denial of Service, particularly the sub-technique related to resource consumption attacks that degrade system performance without necessarily compromising confidentiality or integrity directly. While the initial trigger requires only unprivileged access, the consequence is a systemic failure that impacts all users and services on the host machine.
Mitigation strategies must focus on both immediate remediation and long-term architectural improvements. The most effective solution is to apply vendor-provided patches that address the specific error handling logic within the kernel-mode driver code to ensure proper memory deallocation in all execution paths, including those triggered by errors. System administrators should prioritize updating NVIDIA GPU drivers on Linux-based systems to versions where this flaw has been corrected. In environments where immediate patching is not feasible, implementing strict resource monitoring and limits can help mitigate the impact. Configuring kernel parameters such as vm.overcommit_memory or setting up cgroups with memory constraints can prevent a single process from exhausting all available kernel memory, thereby preserving system stability even if an attacker attempts to exploit this flaw. Additionally, restricting unprivileged user access to GPU devices through device file permissions and group memberships reduces the attack surface by limiting who can trigger these error conditions in the first place.