Intel Xeon Processors Firmware input validation

CVSS Meta Temp Score
CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.
Current Exploit Price (≈)
Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.
CTI Interest Score
Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
2.3$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as problematic has been detected in Intel Xeon Processors. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown functionality of the component Firmware. The manipulation leads to input validation. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2026-20901. The attack can only be performed from a local environment. No exploit is available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Intel Xeon Processors (affected version not known) and classified as problematic. This issue affects some unknown functionality of the component Firmware. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a input validation vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-20. The product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process the data safely and correctly. Impacted is integrity. The summary by CVE is:

Improper input validation for some Intel(R) Xeon(R) processors within firmware may allow an escalation of privilege. Startup code and smm adversary with a privileged user combined with a high complexity attack may enable data alteration. 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 (none), integrity (none) and availability (none) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (none), integrity (high) and availability (none) impacts.

It is possible to read the advisory at intel.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-20901 since 12/09/2025. The exploitation is known to be easy. Attacking locally is a requirement. The exploitation requires an enhanced level 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 08/11/2026).

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

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

Vendor

Name

License

Website

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 2.3
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 2.3

VulDB Base Score: 2.3
VulDB Temp Score: 2.3
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Input validation
CWE: CWE-20
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: No

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined
Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-DayUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
TodayUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: no mitigation known
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Timelineinfo

12/09/2025 CVE reserved
08/11/2026 +244 days Advisory disclosed
08/11/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
08/11/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: intel.com

Advisory: intel.com
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-20901 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-20901
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-388355

Entryinfo

Created: 08/11/2026 20:33
Changes: 08/11/2026 20:33 (52)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Discussion

No comments yet. Languages: en.

Please log in to comment.

◂ PreviousOverviewNext ▸

Want to stay up to date on a daily basis?

Enable the mail alert feature now!