CVE-2026-47566
Description
A flaw was found in nvidia-driver. An unprivileged local attacker can trigger specific error-handling routines in the kernel-mode driver layer, causing memory to leak instead of being freed. Over time, this memory exhaustion can destabilize the operating system and result in a Denial of Service (DoS).
Statement
This vulnerability is rated as Moderate because exploitation requires local access with valid user credentials and is restricted to denial of service, with no impact on data confidentiality or integrity. On Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems running the proprietary NVIDIA display driver, unprivileged local users can trigger error-handling routines that fail to release allocated memory. Over sustained execution, these leaks exhaust kernel resources and cause system unresponsiveness.
Mitigation
Prevent the NVIDIA kernel module from loading by creating a modprobe configuration file:
# echo "install nvidia /bin/true" > /etc/modprobe.d/disable-nvidia.conf
Caveats:
Disabling this module prevents the system from initializing the NVIDIA GPU, which disables graphical desktop acceleration, CUDA compute workloads, and related hardware features.
Warning:
A system reboot is required for the configuration to take effect if the kernel module is already loaded.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.5 | N/A | 5.5 |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | Local |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | Low | N/A | Low |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | None |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | None |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (Other); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU)
An attacker that can influence the allocation of resources that are not properly released could deplete the available resource pool and prevent all other processes from accessing the same type of resource. Frequently-affected resources include memory, CPU, disk space, power or battery, etc.
Frequently Asked Questions
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