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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2022-26373

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-08-18
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
57/100
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
Non-transparent sharing of return predictor targets between contexts in some Intel(R) Processors may allow an authorized 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 · high confidence

This is a hardware vulnerability in certain Intel processors where the return predictor (a component of the branch predictor) non-transparently shares its state between different security contexts. An authorized local user could potentially exploit this to infer information about another context's execution by observing return predictor behavior, leading to information disclosure.

MitigationApply Intel microcode updates and BIOS/firmware updates for affected processors. Consult Intel's processor specification update documentation to confirm if specific CPU models are affected and patched.

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 10.0
Xeon Platinum 8253 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Xeon Platinum 8256 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Xeon Platinum 8260 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Xeon Platinum 8260l FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Xeon Platinum 8260m FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Xeon Platinum 8260y FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Xeon Platinum 8268 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
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 checks

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

  1. Identify your processor model
    Run 'lscpu' or 'cat /proc/cpuinfo' and locate the 'model name' field
    Affected if The CPU model is one of: Intel Xeon Platinum 8253, 8256, 8260, 8260l, 8260m, 8260y, or 8268
  2. Check the installed microcode version
    Run 'dmesg | grep -i microcode' or check '/proc/cpuinfo' for the 'microcode' version entry
    Affected if The microcode version is older than the patched version released by Intel for this CVE, or shows no microcode version loaded
  3. Verify BIOS/firmware version
    Run 'dmidecode -s bios-version' to retrieve the BIOS version
    Affected if The BIOS firmware is older than the version containing the CVE-2022-26373 fix from Intel
  4. Confirm operating system vendor patches (if running Debian 10.0)
    Check installed intel-microcode package version with 'dpkg -l intel-microcode' or check for microcode updates via 'apt-cache policy intel-microcode'
    Affected if Running Debian 10.0 with no available microcode update package, or the installed package predates the CVE fix

Your environment is affected if you are running one of the listed Intel Xeon Platinum processor models (8253, 8256, 8260 series) with microcode or BIOS firmware versions predating Intel's patch for CVE-2022-26373.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Intel microcode updates and BIOS/firmware updates for affected processors. Consult Intel's processor specification update documentation to confirm if specific CPU models are affected and patched.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Debian 10.12 (latest Debian 10 point release) with kernel 4.19.0-21 or later

  1. Update the Linux kernel to the latest available version in Debian 10 (Buster) via: apt update && apt upgrade
  2. Install Intel CPU microcode updates via: apt install intel-microcode
  3. Reboot the system to load the new kernel and microcode
  4. Verify microcode is loaded by checking: dmesg | grep -i microcode or cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep -i microcode
Caveat Microcode updates may cause compatibility issues with some workloads; test in staging environment first

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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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-2022-26373 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