CVE-2026-20901

Awaiting Analysis Awaiting Analysis - Queue

Privilege Escalation in Intel Xeon Processor Firmware

Publication date: 2026-08-11

Last updated on: 2026-08-28

Assigner: Intel Corporation

Description

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.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

Probability:
Percentile:

Meta Information

Published

2026-08-11

Last Modified

2026-08-28

Generated

2026-09-01

AI Q&A

2026-08-11

EPSS Evaluated

2026-08-30

NVD

CVE-2026-20901

EUVD

EUVD-2026-56788

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
intel	xeon_bronze_3408u_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_5403n_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_5411n_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_5412u_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_5415+_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8592+_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8592v_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8593q_firmware	*
intel	xeon_silver_4509y_firmware	*
intel	xeon_silver_4510_firmware	*
intel	xeon_silver_4510t_firmware	*
intel	xeon_silver_4514y_firmware	*
intel	xeon_silver_4516y+_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_5416s_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_5418n_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_5418y_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_5420+_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_5423n_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_5433n_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6403n_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6414u_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6416h_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6418h_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6421n_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6423n_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6426y_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6428n_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6430_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6433n_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6433ne_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6434_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6434h_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6438m_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6438n_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6438y+_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6442y_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6443n_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6444y_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6448h_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6448y_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6454s_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6458q_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8444h_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8450h_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8452y_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8454h_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8458p_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8460h_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8460y+_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8461v_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8462y+_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8468_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8468h_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8468v_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8470_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8470n_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8470q_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8471n_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8480+_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8490h_firmware	*
intel	xeon_silver_4410t_firmware	*
intel	xeon_silver_4410y_firmware	*
intel	xeon_silver_4416+_firmware	*
intel	xeon_bronze_3508u_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_5512u_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_5515+_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_5520+_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6526y_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6530_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6534_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6538n_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6538y+_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6542y_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6544y_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6548n_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6548y+_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6554s_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6558q_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8558_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8558p_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8558u_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8562y+_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8568y+_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8570_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8571n_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8580_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8581v_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_5420_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_5415_firmware	*
intel	xeon_silver_4416_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8461v	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8468	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8468h	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8468v	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8470	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8470n	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8470q	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8471n	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8490h	*
intel	xeon_gold_5411n	*
intel	xeon_gold_5412u	*
intel	xeon_gold_5416s	*
intel	xeon_gold_5418n	*
intel	xeon_gold_5418y	*
intel	xeon_gold_6414u	*
intel	xeon_gold_6416h	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8444h	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8450h	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8452y	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8454h	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8458p	*
intel	xeon_gold_6418h	*
intel	xeon_gold_6421n	*
intel	xeon_gold_6426y	*
intel	xeon_gold_6428n	*
intel	xeon_gold_6430	*
intel	xeon_gold_6434	*
intel	xeon_silver_4410y	*
intel	xeon_bronze_3408u	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8460h	*
intel	xeon_gold_6434h	*
intel	xeon_gold_6438m	*
intel	xeon_gold_6438n	*
intel	xeon_gold_6442y	*
intel	xeon_gold_6444y	*
intel	xeon_gold_6448h	*
intel	xeon_gold_6448y	*
intel	xeon_gold_6454s	*
intel	xeon_gold_6458q	*
intel	xeon_silver_4410t	*
intel	xeon_gold_5415	*
intel	xeon_gold_5420	*
intel	xeon_gold_6438y	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8460y	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8462y	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8480	*
intel	xeon_silver_4416	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8462y_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8480_firmware	*
intel	xeon_gold_6438y_firmware	*
intel	xeon_platinum_8460y_firmware	*

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
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.

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

This vulnerability involves improper input validation in Intel Xeon processors' firmware, allowing privilege escalation. An attacker with local access and privileged user rights could exploit it through a high-complexity attack without special internal knowledge or user interaction.

Detection Guidance

Detection requires checking Intel Xeon processor firmware versions and validating against Intel's advisory for this CVE. No specific commands are provided in the context. Contact Intel support or use their firmware update tools for detection.

Impact Analysis

The vulnerability may lead to data alteration on the system. While confidentiality and availability remain unaffected, integrity is compromised with high impact, potentially allowing unauthorized changes to system data.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability may impact integrity with high severity, which could lead to unauthorized data alteration. Such integrity risks may affect compliance with standards requiring data integrity protections, such as GDPR or HIPAA, depending on the system's role in handling sensitive data.

Mitigation Strategies

Apply firmware updates from Intel as soon as they are available. Monitor Intel's security advisories for patches. Ensure physical and logical access controls are in place to limit privileged user access.

Hi! I’m here to help you understand CVE-2026-20901. Ask me anything about the vulnerability, its impact, or mitigation strategies.

0/70