CVE-2025-54514 in EPYC 9005 Processors
Summary
by MITRE • 02/10/2026
Improper isolation of shared resources on a system on a chip by a malicious local attacker with high privileges could potentially lead to a partial loss of integrity.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/11/2026
This vulnerability represents a critical weakness in system on chip architectures where proper resource isolation mechanisms fail to prevent unauthorized access by privileged attackers. The flaw exists within the hardware-level memory management and resource allocation systems that govern how shared components are accessed and controlled. A malicious actor with high privileges can exploit this weakness to gain unauthorized access to system resources that should remain isolated, potentially compromising the integrity of the entire system architecture. The vulnerability specifically targets the chip's ability to maintain proper boundaries between different execution contexts, allowing for cross-contamination of data and resources that should remain separate.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate memory protection mechanisms within the chip's hardware design. When multiple processes or execution domains share the same physical hardware resources, proper isolation should prevent one domain from accessing another's data or modifying system state. However, this vulnerability demonstrates that the memory management unit or similar hardware components fail to properly enforce these isolation boundaries. The flaw allows for privilege escalation scenarios where an attacker with elevated privileges can manipulate shared memory regions or hardware registers that should be protected from such access. This weakness operates at the architectural level rather than at the software layer, making it particularly dangerous as it bypasses traditional software-based security controls and protections.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data integrity concerns to potentially enable more sophisticated attacks that can compromise the entire system. A successful exploitation could allow an attacker to modify critical system firmware, access sensitive cryptographic keys, or manipulate system behavior in ways that persist across reboots. The partial loss of integrity means that while complete system compromise may not be immediate, the attacker can gradually erode system trust and reliability. This type of vulnerability is particularly concerning in embedded systems, automotive applications, and IoT devices where system on chip architectures are prevalent and hardware-level security is paramount. The attack vector requires local access with high privileges, but the consequences can be far-reaching as the attacker can manipulate the underlying hardware behavior that affects all software running on the system.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability must address the fundamental hardware-level design flaw while providing operational protections for systems already deployed. System administrators should implement strict access controls and privilege management to minimize the attack surface, ensuring that only necessary processes have elevated privileges. Hardware vendors should provide firmware updates that enhance memory protection mechanisms and improve resource isolation capabilities. Organizations should consider implementing additional software-based monitoring to detect unusual resource access patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-276 which addresses improper privilege management and access control issues, and may map to ATT&CK technique T1068 which covers local privilege escalation. Regular security audits should focus on hardware-level access controls and memory management configurations, with particular attention to system on chip architectures that may be vulnerable to similar isolation failures.