Quickassist Technology DriverHardware / appliance · Intel

CVE-2023-41252

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-02-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.11.0 or later.
See remediation →
67/100
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
Out-of-bounds read in some Intel(R) QAT software drivers for Windows before version QAT1.7-W-1.11.0 may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable 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 · high confidence

Out-of-bounds read vulnerability in Intel QAT (QuickAssist Technology) software drivers for Windows. This driver-level flaw allows an authenticated local user to potentially trigger a denial of service condition by reading memory outside allocated buffer boundaries, possibly causing a crash or hang.

MitigationUpdate Intel QAT software drivers for Windows to version QAT1.7-W-1.11.0 or later. Organizations using Intel QAT acceleration hardware should prioritize patching due to the driver being a kernel-level component.

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
Quickassist Technology DriverHardware / appliance
Affected:< 1.11.0

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
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/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. Check if Intel QAT driver service exists
    Open Services (services.msc) and look for a service related to Intel QuickAssist Technology, or run 'sc query type= driver' in Command Prompt and search for QAT-related entries
    Affected if An Intel QAT driver service is present on the system
  2. Retrieve the installed driver version
    In Device Manager, expand the relevant Intel QAT driver node, right-click and select Properties, then go to the Driver tab. Alternatively, right-click the driver file in the installation directory and select Properties > Details to view the File Version
    Affected if The driver version shown is earlier than 1.11.0 (for example, 1.10.x, 1.9.x, or any version number below 1.11.0)
  3. Check driver file version via PowerShell
    Run Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\Program Files\Intel\QAT' -Recurse -Filter '*.sys' | Select-Object Name, VersionInfo to list driver files and their versions if the QAT software was installed to the default directory
    Affected if Any QAT driver file (.sys) shows a version property lower than 1.11.0.0

A user is affected if the Intel QAT driver is installed and its version is below 1.11.0, as only versions prior to 1.11.0 contain the out-of-bounds read vulnerability.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.11.0 or later
Fixed in 1.11.0
Interim mitigation

Update Intel QAT software drivers for Windows to version QAT1.7-W-1.11.0 or later. Organizations using Intel QAT acceleration hardware should prioritize patching due to the driver being a kernel-level component.

Recommended fix High confidence

QAT1.7-W-1.11.0

  1. Identify current QAT driver version installed on the Windows system via Device Manager or QAT diagnostic tools
  2. Download the Intel QuickAssist Technology Driver version QAT1.7-W-1.11.0 or later from the official Intel website
  3. Stop any services or applications that utilize the QAT driver
  4. Uninstall the current QAT driver through Windows Device Manager or the provided uninstaller
  5. Install the updated QAT1.7-W-1.11.0 driver package following Intel's installation documentation
  6. Restart the system to ensure the new driver loads properly
  7. Verify the installed driver version matches QAT1.7-W-1.11.0 or later

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

Fix this in Quickassist Technology Driver Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2023-41252 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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