CVE-2023-38566
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 · uneditedUncontrolled search path in some Intel(R) ISPC software before version 1.21.0 may allow an authenticated 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 · high confidenceIntel ISPC (Implicit SPMD Compiler) before version 1.21.0 contains an uncontrolled search path vulnerability that allows an authenticated local user to potentially escalate privileges by manipulating the application's search path to load malicious resources instead of legitimate ones.
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< 1.21.0CVSS 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
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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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Check if Intel ISPC is installedRun 'which ispc' or 'where ispc' on command line, or check common installation paths like /usr/bin/ispc, /usr/local/bin/ispc, or C:\Program Files\Intel\ispc.exeAffected if The ispc binary exists on the system
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Determine installed ISPC versionExecute 'ispc --version' and note the version number in the outputAffected if Command returns a version number that can be compared
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Compare version against vulnerability thresholdParse the version output and compare to 1.21.0 - any version before 1.21.0 is affected (e.g., 1.20.0, 1.19.0, etc.)Affected if Installed version is less than 1.21.0 (e.g., 1.20.0 or earlier)
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Verify local user access contextConfirm the system has user accounts that can execute ispc - the vulnerability requires an authenticated local user to manipulate the search pathAffected if Local user accounts exist and can run ispc
System is affected if Intel ISPC is installed with a version number lower than 1.21.0 and can be executed by local users who could manipulate the application's DLL/shared library search path.
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.
dbcve · scoped1.21.0
Upgrade Intel ISPC to version 1.21.0 or later to remediate this vulnerability.
Intel ISPC version 1.21.0
- 1. Identify all systems running Intel ISPC (Implicit Spmd Program Compiler) version earlier than 1.21.0
- 2. Download Intel ISPC version 1.21.0 or later from the official Intel download center or your organization's software distribution channel
- 3. Before deployment, verify the integrity of the downloaded package using checksums if provided by Intel
- 4. Schedule an appropriate maintenance window for the upgrade
- 5. Uninstall or replace the vulnerable Intel ISPC installation with version 1.21.0 or later
- 6. Verify the installed version matches or exceeds 1.21.0 after installation
- 7. Test that any dependent build pipelines or workflows function correctly with the new version
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-38566 — 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-2023-38566 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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