What is CVE-2021-1051?

CVE-2021-1051 is a high-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Windows, classified under Improper Privilege Management. CVSS score: 8.4/10. Published 2021-01-08.

How severe is CVE-2021-1051?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.4 out of 10.

Privilege escalation in Microsoft Windows

CVE-2021-1051

NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows contains a vulnerability in the kernel mode layer (nvlddmkm.sys) handler for DxgkDdiEscape in which a local user can get elevated privileges to modify display configuration data, which may result in denial of service of the display.

Vulnerability class: Privilege Escalation

Published 2021-01-08 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 8.4 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.003 (15.6th percentile), scored 2026-09-29.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 16th percentile — 15.6% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.003 · newest: 0.003 · change: 0.000

Affected products

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

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-269 — Improper Privilege Management

References

nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5142 (Vendor Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-1051?: CVE-2021-1051 is a high-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Windows, classified under Improper Privilege Management. CVSS score: 8.4/10. Published 2021-01-08.
How severe is CVE-2021-1051?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.4 out of 10.