CVE-2020-8693
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 · uneditedImproper buffer restrictions in the firmware of the Intel(R) Ethernet 700 Series Controllers may allow a privileged user to potentially enable escalation of privilege and/or denial of service 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 confidenceImproper buffer restrictions in the firmware of Intel Ethernet 700 Series Controllers allows a privileged local user to potentially escalate privileges or cause denial of service. The vulnerability stems from insufficient bounds checking in firmware, likely enabling buffer overflow exploitation.
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< 7.3< 7.3< 7.3< 7.3< 7.3< 7.3< 7.3< 7.3CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Intel Ethernet 700 Series Controllers in the systemRun 'lspci | grep -i ethernet' or 'lspci | grep -i 700' to list network controllers. Look for Intel V710, X710, Xxv710, or Xl710 adapters.Affected if The system has any of the listed Intel Ethernet 700 Series adapters (V710, X710, Xxv710, Xl710)
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Retrieve firmware version of the Intel Ethernet 700 Series adapterUse 'ethtool -i <interface>' where <interface> is the network interface name (e.g., eth0). The 'firmware-version' field shows the current firmware. Alternatively, use 'lspci -vv -s <device>' for detailed device info.Affected if The command fails or returns no firmware version, indicating the adapter may not be properly detected or the tool lacks access
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Compare installed firmware version to the affected rangeExtract the firmware version number from the previous step and compare it to 7.3. Versions less than 7.3 (e.g., 7.2, 7.1, 7.0, 1.x, 2.x) are affected.Affected if The firmware version is below 7.3 (for example, 7.2.1, 7.0, 2.5, etc.)
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Verify privileged local access contextConfirm whether the system allows multiple local user accounts with sudo or administrative privileges. Check /etc/sudoers, wheel group membership, or local user list with 'getent passwd' or 'grep sudo /etc/group'.Affected if Multiple local privileged accounts exist, increasing the potential attack surface for privilege escalation via this flaw
The system is affected if it contains an Intel Ethernet 700 Series Controller (V710, X710, Xxv710, or Xl710) running firmware version 7.2 or lower.
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 data7.3
Apply Intel-provided firmware updates for the Ethernet 700 Series Controllers. Since this requires local privileged access, ensure proper access controls and monitor for unauthorized local access to affected systems.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-8693 — 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-2020-8693 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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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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