What is CVE-2018-6251?

CVE-2018-6251 is a high-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Windows, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2018-04-02.

How severe is CVE-2018-6251?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.

Buffer overflow in Microsoft Windows

CVE-2018-6251

NVIDIA Windows GPU Display Driver contains a vulnerability in the DirectX 10 Usermode driver, where a specially crafted pixel shader can cause writing to unallocated memory, leading to denial of service or potential code execution.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published 2018-04-02 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.004 (29.7th percentile), scored 2026-09-30.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 30th percentile — 29.7% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.004 · change: -0.000

Affected products

Microsoft Windows
NVIDIA GPU Driver
NVIDIA Corporation GPU Display Driver — versions All

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-119 — Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer

References

nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4649 (Vendor Advisory)
www.talosintelligence.com/vulnerability_reports/TALOS-2018-0514 (Third Party Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-6251?: CVE-2018-6251 is a high-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Windows, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2018-04-02.
How severe is CVE-2018-6251?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.