Security Bulletin: NVIDIA Driver Security Updates for CPU Speculative Side Channel Vulnerabilities

Bulletin Summary

NVIDIA is providing an initial security update to mitigate aspects of Google Project Zero’s January 3, 2018 publication of novel information disclosure attacks that combine CPU speculative execution with known side channels.

NVIDIA's core business is GPU computing.

We believe our GPU hardware is immune to the reported security issue. As for our driver software, we are providing updates to help mitigate the CPU security issue.

The vulnerability has three known variants:

• Variant 1 (CVE-2017-5753): CPU mitigations are provided with the security update included in this bulletin. NVIDIA expects to work together with its ecosystem partners on future updates to further strengthen mitigations for affected CPUs.
• Variant 2 (CVE-2017-5715): NVIDIA’s initial analysis indicates that NVIDIA software running on affected CPUs may require further updates. NVIDIA expects to work together with its ecosystem partners on this variant.
• Variant 3 (CVE-2017-5754): At this time, NVIDIA has no reason to believe that NVIDIA software is vulnerable to this variant when running on affected CPUs.

For updates and additional information, actively monitor the NVIDIA Product Security page.

Vulnerability Details

The following sections summarize the vulnerabilities. Descriptions are as published on MITRE and risk assessments follow CVSS.

CVE-2017-5753

Computer systems with microprocessors utilizing speculative execution and branch prediction may allow unauthorized disclosure of information to an attacker with local user access via a side-channel analysis.

CVSS Base Score: 8.2 CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N

CVE-2017-5715

Computer systems with microprocessors utilizing speculative execution and indirect branch prediction may allow unauthorized disclosure of information to an attacker with local user access via a side-channel analysis.

CVSS Base Score: 8.2 CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N

CVE-2017-5754

Computer systems with microprocessors utilizing speculative execution may allow unauthorized disclosure of information to an attacker with local user access via a side-channel analysis of the data cache.

CVSS Base Score: 7.9 CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N

NVIDIA’s risk assessment is based on an average of risk across a diverse set of installed systems and may not represent the true risk of your local installation. NVIDIA recommends consulting a security or IT professional to evaluate the risk of your specific configuration.

Updated Products

Security Updates for CPU Speculative Side Channel Vulnerabilities

When available, download the updates from the NVIDIA Driver Downloads page.

If you are an Enterprise Service customer using NVIDIA GRID, visit the NVIDIA Licensing Center to obtain NVIDIA GRID updates.

If you are an Enterprise Service customer using DGX-1 or DGX Station, visit the NVIDIA Enterprise Portal for guidance.

Windows

Linux

Notes

• The Linux driver contains updates to maintain compatibility with recent Linux updates for this security issue.

• If you are using earlier driver branches of the affected products, upgrade to a supported driver branch that contains the update as listed in the tables for Windows and Linux.

• GeForce R384 (386.07) and R387 (388.73) Windows drivers that are available to GeForce partners also contain these updates.

Acknowledgements

None.

Get the Most Up to Date Product Security Information

To learn more about the vulnerability management process followed by the NVIDIA Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT), see the current list of NVIDIA security bulletins, or subscribe to security bulletin notifications, go to NVIDIA Product Security.

Revision History

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How do I know what driver version I have installed?

1. Launch Windows Device Manager.
2. Select Display Adapters.
3. Select the NVIDIA GPU node and right-click.
4. Go to the Driver tab.

The driver version can be deciphered as shown in the following examples: 10.18.13.6472 is 364.72 and 10.18.13.472 is 304.72

Disclaimer

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Information furnished is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, NVIDIA Corporation assumes no responsibility for the consequences of use of such information or for any infringement of patents or other rights of third parties that may result from its use. No license is granted by implication or otherwise under any patent or patent rights of NVIDIA Corporation. Specifications mentioned in this publication are subject to change without notice. This publication supersedes and replaces all information previously supplied. NVIDIA Corporation products are not authorized for use as critical components in life support devices or systems without express written approval of NVIDIA Corporation.