CVE-2023-47165 in Data Center GPU Max 1100
Summary
by MITRE • 05/17/2024
Improper conditions check in the Intel(R) Data Center GPU Max Series 1100 and 1550 products may allow an privileged user to potentially enable denial of service via local access.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/17/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-47165 affects Intel Data Center GPU Max Series products including the 1100 and 1550 models, representing a critical flaw in the privilege management and condition checking mechanisms of these graphics processing units. This issue stems from inadequate validation of access conditions within the GPU's operational framework, creating a potential pathway for malicious actors with local access to disrupt system functionality. The vulnerability specifically targets the GPU's privilege handling mechanisms, where improper conditions checks fail to adequately verify user permissions before executing critical operations.
The technical flaw manifests in the GPU's inability to properly validate whether a user possesses sufficient privileges to perform certain operations, particularly those related to system resource management and operational control. This weakness allows an authenticated user with local access to manipulate system resources in ways that could lead to service disruption or complete system unavailability. The condition checking mechanism that should enforce proper privilege levels fails to adequately verify access rights, creating an environment where unauthorized operations can be executed with elevated privileges. This represents a classic case of insufficient privilege checking that directly violates fundamental security principles.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability enables a local privileged user to potentially cause denial of service conditions that could severely impact data center operations and computational workloads. The affected GPU series serves critical roles in data center environments where system uptime and reliability are paramount, making this vulnerability particularly concerning for enterprise deployments. The local access requirement means that the threat actor must already have some level of system access, but once achieved, the ability to induce denial of service can have cascading effects throughout the data center infrastructure. The impact extends beyond simple service interruption to potentially affecting critical business operations and computational pipelines that depend on these GPU resources.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 which addresses inadequate access control mechanisms, specifically focusing on improper privilege checking and insufficient authorization validation. This weakness creates a pathway for privilege escalation and resource manipulation that can lead to system instability and service disruption. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to privilege escalation techniques and denial of service tactics that attackers can leverage to compromise system availability. The local access requirement places this vulnerability in the context of initial access and lateral movement phases where attackers may already have some foothold within the system before attempting to exploit this specific weakness.
Mitigation strategies should focus on implementing proper privilege validation mechanisms and ensuring that all access conditions are rigorously checked before executing sensitive operations. System administrators should apply the latest firmware and driver updates provided by Intel to address this vulnerability, as these patches typically contain the necessary condition checking improvements. Network segmentation and access control measures should be enhanced to limit local access privileges where possible, reducing the attack surface for potential exploitation. Regular security audits and monitoring of GPU operational logs should be implemented to detect anomalous access patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Organizations should also consider implementing additional security controls such as privilege management systems and comprehensive access logging to provide better visibility into potential abuse of this vulnerability.