Innovation Engine FirmwareOperating system · Intel

CVE-2020-8675

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-06-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.0.859 or later.
See remediation →
73/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges 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
Insufficient control flow management in firmware build and signing tool for Intel(R) Innovation Engine before version 1.0.859 may allow an unauthenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via physical 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

Insufficient control flow management in the Intel Innovation Engine firmware build and signing tool allows an unauthenticated user with physical access to potentially escalate privileges. The vulnerability exists in versions before 1.0.859 and stems from improper control flow handling during the firmware build and signing process.

MitigationUpgrade the Intel Innovation Engine firmware to version 1.0.859 or later. This typically requires applying a BIOS/firmware update from the system OEM, as the Innovation Engine firmware is delivered through platform firmware 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 data
Innovation Engine FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.0.859

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
Physical
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/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. Confirm Intel Innovation Engine is present
    Check system firmware or BIOS information for Intel Innovation Engine (IE) component. On Intel-based systems, this can often be verified via 'dmidecode -t processor' or by checking BIOS/UEFI setup screens under advanced chipset or Intel settings.
    Affected if The system has Intel Innovation Engine firmware installed (not all systems have this component).
  2. Locate the Innovation Engine firmware version
    Access the IE firmware version through the system's BIOS/UEFI interface (often under 'Intel Management Engine', 'Intel Innovation Engine', or similar chipset firmware settings), or use system information tools provided by the OEM that report platform firmware versions.
    Affected if The version cannot be determined from available system tools - if IE is present but version is hidden or inaccessible, assume potentially affected.
  3. Compare installed version against 1.0.859
    If the IE firmware version is visible in BIOS settings, system diagnostics, or OEM-provided firmware update utilities, compare the numeric version to 1.0.859.
    Affected if The installed IE firmware version is below 1.0.859 (for example, 1.0.842, 1.0.751, etc.).

A system is affected if it contains Intel Innovation Engine firmware and the installed version is lower than 1.0.859, combined with the requirement of physical access for exploitation.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.0.859 or later
Fixed in 1.0.859
Interim mitigation

Upgrade the Intel Innovation Engine firmware to version 1.0.859 or later. This typically requires applying a BIOS/firmware update from the system OEM, as the Innovation Engine firmware is delivered through platform firmware updates.

Fix this in Innovation Engine Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-8675 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-8675 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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