CVE-2025-33180: NVIDIA Cumulus Linux Privilege Escalation

CVE-2025-33180 Overview

CVE-2025-33180 is a command injection vulnerability affecting NVIDIA Cumulus Linux and NVOS products through the NVUE (NVIDIA User Experience) interface. This security flaw enables low-privileged users to inject malicious commands, potentially leading to privilege escalation within the affected network infrastructure devices.

Critical Impact

Low-privileged attackers with adjacent network access can exploit this command injection vulnerability to escalate privileges, potentially gaining administrative control over NVIDIA network switches and infrastructure.

Affected Products

• NVIDIA Cumulus Linux (versions with vulnerable NVUE interface)
• NVIDIA NVOS products (versions with vulnerable NVUE interface)

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-02-24 - CVE-2025-33180 published to NVD
• 2026-02-24 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-33180

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified as CWE-77 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command), commonly known as command injection. The flaw resides in the NVUE interface, which is NVIDIA's modern, declarative, object-oriented management interface for Cumulus Linux and NVOS products.

The vulnerability requires adjacent network access and low-level privileges to exploit. An attacker positioned on the same network segment as the vulnerable device can leverage their existing low-privilege access to inject commands through the NVUE interface. The impact is severe, potentially compromising confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected systems.

Root Cause

The root cause stems from improper neutralization of user-supplied input within the NVUE interface. When processing commands or configuration parameters, the interface fails to adequately sanitize or validate input from low-privileged users before passing it to system-level command execution contexts. This allows specially crafted input containing shell metacharacters or command sequences to be interpreted and executed by the underlying operating system.

Attack Vector

The attack vector requires an adversary to have adjacent network access (same network segment or VLAN) to the vulnerable NVIDIA network device. The attacker must possess low-level user credentials to authenticate to the NVUE interface.

Once authenticated, the attacker crafts malicious input containing command injection payloads targeting the vulnerable NVUE interface endpoints. When the NVUE interface processes these inputs without proper sanitization, the injected commands execute with elevated privileges, allowing the attacker to escalate from their limited access to potentially full administrative control over the network device.

The vulnerability does not require user interaction beyond the attacker's own actions, making it straightforward to exploit once the prerequisite access conditions are met.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-33180

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual command execution patterns in NVUE interface logs originating from low-privileged user accounts
• Unexpected process spawning or shell invocations from NVUE-related services
• Evidence of privilege escalation attempts in system authentication logs
• Anomalous configuration changes made by users without appropriate administrative privileges

Detection Strategies

• Monitor NVUE interface access logs for suspicious command patterns or unusual character sequences (semicolons, pipes, backticks, $() syntax)
• Implement behavioral analysis to detect low-privileged users attempting to access or modify configurations beyond their authorization level
• Deploy network intrusion detection signatures targeting known command injection patterns in NVUE API traffic
• Establish baseline behavior for NVUE interface usage and alert on deviations

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable comprehensive logging for all NVUE interface activities and forward logs to a centralized SIEM
• Configure alerts for any command execution failures or syntax errors that may indicate injection attempts
• Regularly audit user privilege levels and access patterns on NVIDIA Cumulus Linux and NVOS devices
• Monitor for unexpected changes to system configurations, user accounts, or privilege assignments

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-33180

Immediate Actions Required

• Review the NVIDIA Support Article for specific patch information and affected version details
• Audit all user accounts with access to NVUE interface and ensure principle of least privilege is enforced
• Restrict network access to NVUE management interfaces using network segmentation and access control lists
• Monitor existing NVUE interface logs for any signs of prior exploitation attempts

Patch Information

NVIDIA has released security updates addressing this vulnerability. Organizations should consult the NVIDIA Support Article for specific version information and download the appropriate patches for their deployed NVIDIA Cumulus Linux and NVOS products. Apply patches during scheduled maintenance windows following standard change management procedures.

Workarounds

• Implement strict network segmentation to limit adjacent network access to NVIDIA infrastructure devices
• Restrict NVUE interface access to only essential administrative personnel using role-based access controls
• Deploy a jump host or bastion server as the only authorized access point for NVUE management
• Consider temporarily disabling NVUE interface access for non-essential users until patches can be applied
• Implement additional input validation at the network level using web application firewalls or API gateways if applicable

# Example: Restrict NVUE access via ACL (adjust for your environment)
# Limit management plane access to authorized subnets only
net add acl ipv4 MGMT-ACCESS priority 10 accept source-ip 10.0.0.0/24
net add acl ipv4 MGMT-ACCESS priority 100 drop source-ip any
net add interface eth0 acl ipv4 MGMT-ACCESS inbound
net commit