Quartus PrimeApplication · Intel

CVE-2024-21837

HIGH · 7.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-05-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 23.1 or later.
See remediation →
73/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Patch available

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
Uncontrolled search path in some Intel(R) Quartus(R) Prime Lite Edition Design software before version 23.1 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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-427

The program loads a library or executable from a location an attacker can influence — a writable directory early in the search order — so a malicious file is loaded with the application's privileges. On Windows this is the classic DLL-hijack. Remediation is loading only from fully-qualified trusted paths and controlling the search order explicitly.

General guidance for the uncontrolled search path (dll hijack) class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
Quartus PrimeApplication
Affected:< 23.1

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
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 23.1 or later
Fixed in 23.1
Vendor patch www.intel.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

Quartus Prime version 23.1 or later

  1. 1. Identify the currently installed Quartus Prime version by launching the application and checking About Quartus Prime, or by checking the installation directory for version information.
  2. 2. Navigate to the Intel Quartus Prime download page or official support site to obtain version 23.1 or later.
  3. 3. Download the Quartus Prime Lite Edition Design software version 23.1 or the latest stable release.
  4. 4. Back up any existing projects, IP cores, and Quartus settings files before proceeding with the upgrade.
  5. 5. Run the installer for the new version and follow the on-screen installation prompts.
  6. 6. After installation completes, launch Quartus Prime and verify the version number matches 23.1 or later.
  7. 7. Re-validate that any existing projects compile and function correctly in the updated environment.
Caveat Major version upgrades may introduce changes to IP compatibility, toolchain settings, or project file formats; re-validation of existing designs is recommended

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

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,950. Get the upgrade done

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-2024-21837 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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