CVE-2024-23909
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) FPGA SDK for OpenCL(TM) software technology 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 · moderate confidenceThis is an uncontrolled search path vulnerability in Intel FPGA SDK for OpenCL, where the application may load executable files from untrusted locations (such as the current working directory) without fully validating the path. An authenticated local attacker could place a malicious executable in a location searched by the SDK, leading to privilege escalation when the software runs.
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= 13.0= 13.1= 14.0= 14.1= 15.0= 15.1= 16.0= 16.1= 17.0= 17.1= 18.0= 18.1CVSS 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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Identify Intel FPGA SDK for OpenCL installationSearch for common installation paths such as C:\intelFPGA\, /opt/intelfpga/, or C:\Program Files\Intel\. Look for folders named 'hls', 'opencl', or 'aocl' which are typical for Intel FPGA tools.Affected if The SDK is present on the system in any of the known installation directories.
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Determine installed SDK versionCheck the version of the installed SDK by examining the installation directory name (often includes version like 18.1) or run 'aocl version' if the Altera License Manager (aocl) tool is available on the system PATH.Affected if The installed version matches 13.0, 13.1, 14.0, 14.1, 15.0, 15.1, 16.0, 16.1, 17.0, 17.1, 18.0, or 18.1.
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Verify launch directory is trustedExamine how the SDK is invoked. Check if scripts or shortcuts used to launch the SDK tools point to directories that are writable by non-privileged users (such as user home directories, temp folders, or project directories).Affected if The SDK is launched from or has its working directory set to a user-writable location.
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Inspect PATH environment variableReview the system and user PATH environment variables. Identify if any user-writable directories (such as current directory '.', temp directories, or user home directories) appear before the Intel FPGA SDK binary directories.Affected if User-writable directories appear in PATH before the SDK's legitimate binary directories, or the current working directory is explicitly included in PATH.
The system is likely affected if Intel FPGA SDK for OpenCL versions 13.0 through 18.1 are installed and the SDK is launched from or has user-writable directories in its search path before the trusted SDK directories.
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 vendor patches from Intel for the FPGA SDK for OpenCL. In the meantime, ensure the SDK is launched from trusted directories only and that user-writable directories are not in the PATH or search path before the SDK's legitimate binaries.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-23909 — 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-2024-23909 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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