NVIDIA GPU Display Driver CVE-2026-24193: Overview of a High Severity Out of Bounds Write Affecting Millions of Systems

Introduction

An out-of-bounds write in the NVIDIA GPU Display Driver's kernel-mode layer gives local attackers a path to privilege escalation, code execution, and denial of service on both Windows and Linux systems. NVIDIA holds roughly 85 percent of the discrete GPU market and powers the vast majority of AI accelerator deployments worldwide, so CVE-2026-24193 reaches an enormous installed base: gaming workstations, professional creative systems, AI training clusters, virtual desktop infrastructure, and cloud GPU instances.

The vulnerability was disclosed on May 26, 2026 in a broader NVIDIA security bulletin that addresses at least 15 CVEs, and it carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 7.8 (High). It does not affect every driver branch. Only the R580 and R535 branches are vulnerable, and the newer R595 branch is not. On Windows, the R580 exposure is limited further to GPUs based on the Maxwell, Volta, and Pascal architectures.

Technical Information

Root Cause: CWE-787 Out-of-Bounds Write

CVE-2026-24193 is classified under CWE-787: Out of bounds Write, which MITRE defines as a weakness where "the product writes data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer." CWE-787 ranks first on MITRE's list of the most dangerous software weaknesses. It is both common and severe in its consequences.

The vulnerability is in the NVIDIA GPU Display Driver, which runs in kernel mode on both Windows and Linux. At that privilege level, an out-of-bounds write can corrupt kernel memory, overwrite kernel data structures such as function pointers or security tokens, or redirect execution flow entirely. The NVIDIA security bulletin confirms the flaw exists only in the R580 and R535 driver branches. The newer R595 and R590 branches do not contain the vulnerable code path, which suggests the issue was either already resolved in those branches or absent from their architecture.

CVSS Vector Analysis

The CVSS 3.1 vector for this vulnerability is AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, which breaks down as follows:

Because the attacker needs only low privileges and no user interaction, this vulnerability is a particular concern in multi-user environments, shared workstations, and virtualized GPU deployments where multiple tenants share the underlying hardware.

Attack Flow

Based on the vulnerability class and the driver's kernel-mode execution context, the exploitation chain for CVE-2026-24193 follows the well-understood pattern for CWE-787 flaws in kernel drivers:

1. Initial Access: An attacker with local access and low-level user privileges on a system running an affected NVIDIA GPU driver (R580 or R535 branch) identifies the vulnerable code path in the driver.

2. Trigger: The attacker crafts a malformed request to the GPU driver interface, built to make the driver write past the boundaries of an allocated buffer.

3. Memory Corruption: The driver processes the request and writes data beyond the intended buffer boundary, corrupting adjacent kernel memory. Depending on the memory layout, this could overwrite function pointers, page table entries, security tokens, or other critical kernel data structures.

4. Exploitation: The attacker uses the corrupted memory to achieve one or more of the following outcomes:

   • Privilege Escalation: Overwriting security tokens to elevate from a low-privilege user to SYSTEM (Windows) or root (Linux)
   • Code Execution: Redirecting execution flow to attacker-controlled code running at kernel privilege level
   • Denial of Service: Crashing the system or GPU subsystem through memory corruption
   • Information Disclosure: Reading sensitive kernel or GPU memory contents
   • Data Tampering: Modifying data in kernel or GPU memory

NVIDIA lists all five impact categories (denial of service, privilege escalation, information disclosure, data tampering, and code execution) for this single vulnerability, which shows how much an attacker can do after exploiting it.

Scope Nuances

On Windows, the NVIDIA bulletin scopes the R580 exposure by GPU architecture. The R580 branch is affected only on GPUs based on the Maxwell, Volta, and Pascal architectures. Newer GPU architectures running the R580 branch on Windows are not vulnerable to this CVE, even on a pre-patch driver version. The bulletin notes no such architectural restriction for the R580 branch on Linux.

The R535 branch is affected across all supported GPU architectures on both platforms.

Patch Information

NVIDIA addressed CVE-2026-24193 in its May 2026 GPU Display Driver Security Bulletin, first published on May 19, 2026 and revised through May 21, 2026. NVIDIA's GPU display drivers are closed source, so no public source code diff or commit is available. The fix ships entirely as updated driver binaries.

Fixed Driver Versions

Windows:

Linux:

On each branch, all driver versions earlier than the fixed version are considered vulnerable. The R595 branch is not affected by CVE-2026-24193 on either platform.

The affected product families cover NVIDIA's entire lineup: GeForce, NVIDIA RTX, Quadro, NVS, and Tesla GPUs on both operating systems.

OEM Considerations

NVIDIA notes that some OEM hardware vendors may distribute their own bundled driver versions (for example, 582.42 for Windows R580 or 539.69 for R535) that also contain the security fixes. If you get drivers through a vendor channel, verify that you are on at least the listed fixed version or its vendor equivalent.

Where to Get Updates

Consumer users can download updated drivers from the NVIDIA Driver Downloads page. Enterprise and vGPU users should get updates through the NVIDIA Licensing Portal.

Automated Verification

Tenable published Nessus Plugin ID 316513 on May 22, 2026. You can use it to verify programmatically whether Windows hosts have been updated. The plugin compares the driver's self-reported version number against the patched thresholds from the bulletin.

Detection Methods

The main way to detect CVE-2026-24193 in your environment is version-based vulnerability scanning. No exploit-specific signatures, YARA rules, Snort rules, or network-based indicators of compromise have been publicly released for this vulnerability. That is consistent with a local out-of-bounds write in the kernel-mode driver layer, where network-based detection is largely impractical.

Tenable Nessus Plugins

Tenable published two Nessus plugins on May 22, 2026 that cover CVE-2026-24193:

• Plugin ID 316513 (NVIDIA Windows GPU Display Driver, May 2026): A local check that runs through the Nessus agent on Windows hosts. It reads the self-reported NVIDIA driver version from the WMI DisplayDrivers/NVIDIA knowledge base item and compares it against the patched driver versions. The plugin does not attempt to exploit the vulnerability.

• Plugin ID 316514 (NVIDIA Linux GPU Display Driver, May 2026): The Linux counterpart, which runs locally through the Unix agent. It needs the NVIDIA_UNIX_Driver/Version and NVIDIA_UNIX_Driver/GPU_Model KB items for the version comparison.

Both plugins are rated High severity and tagged IAVA 2026-A-0493. The tag means the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has issued an Information Assurance Vulnerability Alert for this batch of NVIDIA driver vulnerabilities. Organizations running DISA STIG compliance scans should see it flagged.

Manual Version-Based Detection

Teams without Nessus can run manual or scripted version checks against the affected driver branches:

• Windows R580 branch: All versions prior to 582.53 are vulnerable (only GPUs based on the Maxwell, Volta, and Pascal architectures are affected in this branch)
• Windows R535 branch: All versions prior to 539.72 are vulnerable
• Linux R580 branch: All versions prior to 580.159.03 are vulnerable
• Linux R535 branch: All versions prior to 535.309.01 are vulnerable

On Windows, you can check the installed NVIDIA driver version in the NVIDIA Control Panel or Device Manager, or by querying WMI programmatically. On Linux, the nvidia-smi utility or /proc/driver/nvidia/version shows the installed driver version. Flag any version below these thresholds on an affected branch as vulnerable.

Absence of Exploit-Based Detection

At the time of writing, Tenable notes that no known exploits are available for CVE-2026-24193 and lists the exploit ease as unavailable. No Sigma rules, YARA signatures, Snort/Suricata rules, or behavioral IoCs tied to active exploitation of this CVE have been identified. Detection is currently limited to finding vulnerable versions ahead of time through version checks, not to detecting exploitation as it happens.

Affected Systems and Versions

CVE-2026-24193 affects the following NVIDIA GPU Display Driver branches and product lines:

Affected Driver Branches

Not Affected

• R595 branch (Windows and Linux): CVE-2026-24193 is not listed among the CVEs addressed for this branch, which indicates the vulnerable code path does not exist there or was already resolved.
• R590 branch: Also unaffected.

Affected Product Families

• NVIDIA GeForce
• NVIDIA RTX
• NVIDIA Quadro
• NVIDIA NVS
• NVIDIA Tesla

Architecture Restrictions (Windows Only)

On Windows, the R580 branch is affected only on GPUs based on the Maxwell, Volta, and Pascal architectures. Newer architectures running the R580 branch on Windows are not vulnerable to this CVE.

vGPU Software

Organizations running NVIDIA vGPU software are also affected. The NVIDIA May 2026 Security Bulletin documents the relevant vGPU guest driver and Virtual GPU Manager updates.

NVD Enrichment Status

The NVD record for CVE-2026-24193 is currently marked "Undergoing Enrichment," so its CVSS vector strings, CPE applicability statements, and affected version mappings are not yet populated. Automated vulnerability management tools that rely on NVD data for CPE matching may not yet flag this CVE against specific asset inventories. Consult the NVIDIA security bulletin directly for the authoritative list of affected products and patched versions.

Vendor Security History

NVIDIA publishes GPU display driver security bulletins on a regular schedule. The May 2026 bulletin, which includes CVE-2026-24193, addresses at least 15 CVEs rated High and Medium. Earlier bulletins in the series include the January 2026 and October 2025 editions, and each addressed multiple vulnerabilities across the driver stack.

Several other CVEs in the May 2026 bulletin share the CVSS 7.8 score, including CVE-2026-24190 (improper access to GPU resources) and CVE-2026-24191 (time-of-check time-of-use). Together they point to systemic complexity in the driver codebase. Recurring multi-vulnerability bulletins are consistent with how complex GPU driver software is, with its kernel-mode components, memory management subsystems, and hardware abstraction layers.

Since October 1, 2025, NVIDIA PSIRT has published security bulletins on GitHub in Markdown, CSAF, and CVE formats to meet industry demand for machine-readable vulnerability data. The frequency of these disclosures reflects NVIDIA's commitment to responsible disclosure and patching. It also shows the persistent risk of deploying NVIDIA GPU drivers in security-sensitive environments.

Dell has also published DSA-2026-015, a downstream security update for Dell client platforms that addresses multiple NVIDIA GPU display driver vulnerabilities from this bulletin cycle.

References

• CVE-2026-24193 Detail (NVD)
• CVE-2026-24193 (CVE.org)
• Security Bulletin: NVIDIA GPU Display Drivers, May 2026
• GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-7gvm-xr2x-wg8x
• Tenable Nessus Plugin 316513: NVIDIA Windows GPU Display Driver (May 2026)
• Tenable Nessus Plugin 316514: NVIDIA Linux GPU Display Driver (May 2026)
• Tenable CVE-2026-24193
• NVIDIA GPU Driver Security Update (SecurityOnline)
• CWE-787: Out of bounds Write
• NVIDIA Product Security
• NVIDIA PSIRT Policies
• NVIDIA reveal more GPU driver security flaws for May 2026 (GamingOnLinux)
• NVIDIA AI GPU Market Share 2026 (Silicon Analysts)
• Nvidia's 85% GPU Market Share Faces Growing Competition (Yahoo Finance)
• DSA-2026-015: Dell Security Update for NVIDIA GPU Display Driver Vulnerabilities
• Security Bulletin: NVIDIA GPU Display Drivers, January 2026