Intel Reference Platform See references WheaERST SMM toctou

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Intel Reference Platform See references. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown functionality of the component WheaERST SMM Module. This manipulation causes toctou. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2025-20028. It is possible to launch the attack on the local host. There is not any exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Intel Reference Platform See references. It has been declared as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is some unknown processing of the component WheaERST SMM Module. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a toctou vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-367. The product checks the state of a resource before using that resource, but the resource's state can change between the check and the use in a way that invalidates the results of the check. This can cause the product to perform invalid actions when the resource is in an unexpected state. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

Time-of-check time-of-use race condition in the WheaERST SMM module for some Intel(R) reference platforms may allow an escalation of privilege. System software adversary with a privileged user combined with a high complexity attack may enable escalation of privilege. This result may potentially occur via local access when attack requirements are present without special internal knowledge and requires no user interaction. The potential vulnerability may impact the confidentiality (high), integrity (high) and availability (high) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (none), integrity (none) and availability (none) impacts.

It is possible to read the advisory at intel.com. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2025-20028 since 10/10/2024. The exploitation appears to be difficult. Attacking locally is a requirement. The exploitation needs additional levels of successful authentication. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 03/16/2026).

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

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Productinfo

Vendor

• Intel

Name

• Reference Platform

Version

• See references

License

• commercial

Website

• Vendor: https://www.intel.com/

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