CVE-2026-65118 in Infrastructure Controller
Summary
by MITRE • 09/22/2026
NVIDIA Infrastructure Controller for Linux contains a vulnerability where an attacker could cause improper certificate validation. A successful exploit of this vulnerability might lead to information disclosure, data tampering, and denial of service.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/22/2026
The NVIDIA Infrastructure Controller for Linux represents a critical component in modern high-performance computing and artificial intelligence clusters, serving as the management plane that orchestrates hardware resources, monitors system health, and facilitates secure communication between nodes. Within this architecture, the controller relies heavily on Transport Layer Security protocols to ensure confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity of data exchanged with connected devices such as GPUs, network interface cards, and BMCs. The identified vulnerability centers on a fundamental flaw in the certificate validation logic employed by the software during these TLS handshakes or subsequent secure communications. Specifically, the implementation fails to rigorously verify the digital certificates presented by remote peers against trusted certification authorities or expected identity profiles. This deficiency allows an attacker who is positioned within the network segment accessible to the controller to bypass standard cryptographic authentication mechanisms that are designed to prevent impersonation and man-in-the-middle attacks.
From a technical perspective, this improper certificate validation constitutes a breakdown in the principle of mutual trust required for secure infrastructure management. When the NVIDIA Infrastructure Controller accepts a connection without validating the peer's identity through proper chain-of-trust verification or hostname matching, it effectively treats any entity presenting a self-signed or maliciously crafted certificate as legitimate. This flaw aligns with CWE-295, which describes Improper Certificate Validation, and is directly exploitable via MITM techniques categorized under ATT&CK tactic T1078 (Valid Accounts) and technique T1557 (Adversary-in-the-Middle). An attacker leveraging this vulnerability can intercept the communication channel between management stations and infrastructure components. By inserting themselves into the data path, the adversary can decrypt traffic that was intended to be encrypted, read sensitive configuration details, or inject malicious commands without triggering security alerts associated with certificate errors.
The operational impact of exploiting this flaw is severe due to the privileged nature of the NVIDIA Infrastructure Controller. Information disclosure occurs as attackers gain access to internal network topologies, hardware inventory data, and potentially credentials stored in plaintext within management interfaces if they are transmitted over these compromised channels. Data tampering becomes possible when an attacker modifies commands sent to GPUs or other accelerators, leading to computational errors, corrupted model training processes, or the execution of unauthorized operations that could damage physical hardware through improper power or thermal settings. Furthermore, denial of service can be achieved by forcing connection resets or exhausting system resources during repeated failed authentication attempts disguised as legitimate traffic, thereby disrupting cluster availability and halting critical compute workloads.
Mitigation strategies must focus on hardening the TLS configuration and enforcing strict identity verification protocols. Administrators should ensure that all firmware versions are updated to include patches from NVIDIA that address this specific validation logic error. In environments where patching is not immediately feasible, network segmentation plays a crucial role; restricting access to the management interfaces of the Infrastructure Controller to only trusted IP addresses via firewall rules can prevent external attackers from reaching the vulnerable endpoint. Additionally, implementing mutual TLS authentication ensures that both sides verify each other's certificates, making it significantly harder for an attacker to impersonate either party without possessing valid private keys issued by a recognized internal certificate authority. Regular auditing of SSL/TLS configurations against industry benchmarks such as CIS Benchmarks can also help identify and rectify weak cipher suites or outdated protocol versions that may compound the risks associated with this vulnerability.