CVE-2026-65113: NVIDIA Infrastructure Controller Privilege Escalation

CVE-2026-65113 is a privilege escalation vulnerability in NVIDIA Infrastructure Controller for Linux caused by hard-coded credentials. Attackers can exploit this to gain elevated privileges, tamper with data, or cause denial of service. This article covers technical details, impact assessment, and mitigation strategies.

CVE-2026-65113 Overview

NVIDIA Infrastructure Controller for Linux contains hard-coded credentials that a remote attacker can use to authenticate without prior access. The flaw is tracked as CWE-798: Use of Hard-coded Credentials and is exploitable over the network without user interaction. Successful exploitation can lead to privilege escalation, data tampering, denial of service, and information disclosure across affected controller deployments. The vulnerability is documented in the NVIDIA product security repository and the NVD entry for CVE-2026-65113.

Critical Impact
Remote, unauthenticated attackers can leverage embedded credentials to gain administrative access to Infrastructure Controller hosts and pivot into managed infrastructure.

Affected Products

NVIDIA Infrastructure Controller for Linux (specific version ranges published in the NVIDIA advisory)
Linux hosts running the Infrastructure Controller management service
Downstream infrastructure managed by affected controllers

Discovery Timeline

2026-09-22 - CVE-2026-65113 published to NVD
2026-09-22 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-65113

Vulnerability Analysis

The Infrastructure Controller ships with credentials embedded in its distribution or configuration. An attacker who inspects the binaries, packages, or documentation of the product can recover these credentials and reuse them against any deployed instance. Because the same credentials are shared across installations, one recovery event compromises every unpatched host.

Once authenticated, an attacker inherits the controller's management privileges. That role typically permits configuration changes, credential reads, service restarts, and orchestration of downstream nodes. The result is a single-step path from network reachability to full administrative control of the controller and the infrastructure it governs.

Root Cause

The root cause is the presence of static, non-rotatable credentials distributed with the software rather than credentials provisioned per-installation. CWE-798 covers this class of defect, where authentication material is stored in code, configuration, or firmware and cannot be changed without vendor intervention.

Attack Vector

Attack traffic reaches the controller's exposed management interface over the network. The attacker submits the hard-coded credentials to the authentication endpoint and receives a valid session. No user interaction, prior privilege, or social engineering step is required. See the NVIDIA advisory for interface details and exposure conditions.

A verified proof-of-concept is not published at the time of writing, but the extraction of credentials from software distributions is a well-understood technique and does not require novel research.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-65113

Indicators of Compromise

Authentication events on the Infrastructure Controller management interface from source addresses outside expected administrative subnets.
Successful logins using built-in service accounts that were not provisioned by the operations team.
Configuration changes, new user creations, or credential exports performed shortly after an anomalous login.
Outbound connections from the controller host to previously unseen external destinations.

Detection Strategies

Baseline the set of accounts and source networks that legitimately authenticate to the controller, then alert on any deviation.
Correlate controller authentication logs with downstream infrastructure changes to catch attacker-driven orchestration.
Inspect controller binaries and packages against the vendor's advisory checksums to confirm patched builds are running.

Monitoring Recommendations

Forward controller authentication, audit, and API logs to a central analytics platform for retention and correlation.
Monitor privileged account activity on managed nodes for orchestration commands originating from the controller.
Track network flows to and from the controller's management port and alert on non-administrative sources.

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-65113

Immediate Actions Required

Apply the vendor update published in the NVIDIA product security repository as soon as it is available for your build.
Restrict network access to the controller's management interface to a dedicated administrative subnet or jump host.
Rotate all secrets, API tokens, and service account passwords accessible from the controller after patching.
Review authentication and audit logs for use of default or service accounts since the controller was first deployed.

Patch Information

Refer to the NVIDIA product security advisory for CVE-2026-65113 for the fixed version and upgrade instructions. Confirm the deployed build matches the vendor's fixed release before returning the controller to production.

Workarounds

Place the controller behind a network access control list that permits only known administrator hosts.
Terminate management sessions at a reverse proxy that enforces mutual TLS or an additional authentication factor.
Disable or firewall any management endpoints that are not required for daily operations until the patch is applied.

bash

# Example: restrict controller management port to an admin subnet
# Replace 10.0.10.0/24 with your administrative network
# and 8443 with the controller's management port
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 8443 -s 10.0.10.0/24 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 8443 -j DROP