Field Programmable Gate Array Programmable Acceleration Card N3000 FirmwareOperating system · Intel

CVE-2019-14626

MEDIUM · 6.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-03-12
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
69/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Improper access control in PCIe function for the Intel® FPGA Programmable Acceleration Card N3000, all versions, may allow a privileged user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

Improper access control in the PCIe function of the Intel FPGA Programmable Acceleration Card N3000 allows a privileged local user to escalate their privileges. The vulnerability stems from inadequate authorization checks within the PCIe function, enabling an attacker with existing privileged access to gain higher-level permissions.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied firmware update from Intel that addresses the improper access control in the PCIe function. Since this requires local access, ensure physical and console access controls are restricted to authorized personnel only until the patch is applied.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Field Programmable Gate Array Programmable Acceleration Card N3000 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Intel FPGA PAC N3000 hardware presence
    Run 'lspci' or check system inventory for 'Intel FPGA' or 'PAC N3000' device entries. On Linux: 'lspci | grep -i intel' or 'lspci | grep -i fpga'. Check BIOS/UEFI firmware tables if needed.
    Affected if The Intel FPGA Programmable Acceleration Card N3000 is present in the system
  2. Check firmware version of the FPGA card
    Use Intel-provided tools (such as 'intel_fpga' or 'aocl' utilities if installed) to query the firmware version. Common command: 'aocl diagnose' or check via Intel Quartus/programmer tools. If using Linux, check /dev/intel-fpga* devices or relevant driver info via 'dmesg | grep -i fpga'.
    Affected if Any firmware version is returned, confirming the card is operational (all versions are affected)
  3. Verify PCIe function accessibility
    Confirm the FPGA card is enumerated as a PCIe device. Run 'lspci -vv' and look for the N3000 card under 'System peripherals' or 'Acceleration' categories. Check that the PCIe function is exposed and not disabled in BIOS/UEFI settings.
    Affected if The PCIe function of the N3000 card is visible/enumerated in the PCIe bus
  4. Assess local user privilege context
    Identify if the checking user has privileged local access (root, sudo, or administrative privileges). Run 'id', 'whoami', or check membership in privileged groups (wheel, sudoers, administrators).
    Affected if The local user has existing privileged (root/administrator) access to the system where the card is installed

A user is affected if they have an Intel FPGA PAC N3000 installed with an accessible PCIe function and possess existing privileged local access on that system, as the vulnerability allows privilege escalation from an already privileged local user context.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the vendor-supplied firmware update from Intel that addresses the improper access control in the PCIe function. Since this requires local access, ensure physical and console access controls are restricted to authorized personnel only until the patch is applied.

Fix this in Field Programmable Gate Array Programmable Acceleration Card N3000 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-14626 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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