CVE-2020-8700
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 input validation in the firmware for some Intel(R) Processors 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 confidenceImproper input validation in Intel processor firmware allows a locally authenticated privileged user to escalate privileges. This is a firmware-level vulnerability affecting certain Intel processors that could allow a user with existing elevated privileges to gain additional unauthorized access.
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
- 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 the Intel processor model in the systemRun 'dmidecode -s processor-family' or 'lscpu | grep "Model name"' to determine the Intel processor generationAffected if The processor is an Intel CPU and the system has firmware that has not been updated to include Intel's microcode fix
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Determine the system firmware versionRun 'dmidecode -s bios-version' or check the UEFI/BIOS setup screen for the BIOS/firmware version stringAffected if The firmware version predates the Intel-provided security update for this CVE (contact Intel or OEM for version specifics)
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Verify if running NetApp hardwareRun 'netapp -serial' or check system stickers/labels for NetApp model numbers (Aff, E-Series, Fas, HCI, Solidfire)Affected if The system is a listed NetApp product and the firmware has not been updated to include the Intel microcode patch
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Check Intel processor microcode versionRun 'dmesg | grep -i microcode' on Linux or check the system firmware logs for the loaded Intel microcode versionAffected if The loaded microcode version is earlier than the version containing the CVE-2020-8700 fix from Intel
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Confirm local privileged access existsVerify the presence of local administrative or root accounts on the systemAffected if A locally authenticated privileged user account exists, which is required to exploit this vulnerability
A system is affected if it uses an Intel processor with unpatched firmware/microcode and the attacker already has local privileged access on that system.
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-provided firmware/microcode updates for affected processors. Contact system OEMs for BIOS/UEFI firmware updates that include the Intel fix.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing12.0 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 $12,352.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-8700 — 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-2020-8700 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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