The latest security information on Intel® products.

Summary: 

A potential security vulnerability in some Intel® Processors may allow escalation of privilege. Intel is releasing microcode updates to mitigate this potential vulnerability.

Vulnerability Details: 

CVEID:  CVE-2025-35973

Description: Improper handling of values for some Intel® Processors within Ring 0: Kernel, Hypervisor and Bare Metal OS may allow an escalation of privilege. Authorized 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 with special internal knowledge and require no user interaction. The potential vulnerability may impact the confidentiality (low), integrity (low) and availability (none) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (high), integrity (high) and availability (none) impacts.

CVSS Base Score: 4.5 Medium

CVSS Vector:  CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:N

Affected Products:

Recommendation:

Intel recommends that users of affected processors update the latest version of firmware provided by the system manufacturer that addresses this issue. 

Intel has released microcode updates for the affected processors that are currently supported on the public github repository. Please update the latest microcode for the affected products.

To address this vulnerability, a TCB recovery is planned, this guidance  will be updated as more information about the upcoming TCB recovery becomes available.

Related Content:

1. Please see details below on access to the microcode: Public Github:  https://github.com/intel/Intel-Linux-Processor-Microcode-Data-Files
2. Microcode loading points:  https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/articles/technical/software-security-guidance/secure-coding/loading-microcode-os.html
3. Trusted Computing Base Recovery of Intel Trusted Execution Environments

Acknowledgements:

This issue was found internally by Intel employees. Intel would like to thank Nir Solomon and Meir-haim Dahan.

Intel, and nearly the entire technology industry, follows a disclosure practice called Coordinated Disclosure, under which a cybersecurity vulnerability is generally publicly disclosed only after mitigations are available.