CVE-2020-0548
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 · uneditedCleanup errors in some Intel(R) Processors may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable information disclosure 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 confidenceCVE-2020-0548 is a processor vulnerability in certain Intel CPUs stemming from cleanup errors that can leak information from cache. An authenticated user with local access can potentially read sensitive data from processor cache memory that was not properly cleared. This is a hardware/firmware-level flaw requiring microcode or BIOS updates.
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 dataall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsCVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the CPU modelRun 'wmic cpu get name' on Windows or 'cat /proc/cpuinfo' on Linux to retrieve the processor nameAffected if The CPU model matches any of these: Intel Core i7-8700b, Intel Core i7-8569u, Intel Core i7-8650u, Intel Core i7-8565u, Intel Core i7-8560u, Intel Core i7-8559u, Intel Core i7-8550u, or Intel Core i7-8500y
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Confirm system manufacturer and modelCheck system information (run 'systeminfo' on Windows or 'dmidecode -s system-product-name' on Linux) to verify this is a system that uses one of the affected CPU variantsAffected if The system uses a processor from the affected list and is a platform where the vulnerable CPU firmware is present
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Check microcode versionOn Linux, run 'dmesg | grep -i microcode' or check '/proc/cpuinfo' for microcode version. On Windows, use 'wmic cpu get ucode' or check BIOS/firmware settingsAffected if The microcode version is earlier than the Intel-provided fix for CVE-2020-0548; however, since all firmware versions of the listed CPUs are affected, any unpatched microcode indicates exposure
You are affected if your system contains any of the following processors: Intel Core i7-8700b, 8569u, 8650u, 8565u, 8560u, 8559u, 8550u, or 8500y, and the Intel microcode/BIOS firmware has not been updated to address this cache cleanup flaw.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataApply Intel processor microcode updates and BIOS firmware updates provided by Intel and system manufacturers. Verify that hyperthreading or SMT settings are appropriately configured per vendor guidance.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation24.0 h
- Testing16.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $15,616.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-0548 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-0548 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data