CVE-2025-20053
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 · uneditedImproper buffer restrictions for some Intel(R) Xeon(R) Processor firmware with SGX enabled may allow a privileged 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 a firmware vulnerability in Intel Xeon processors with SGX (Software Guard Extensions) enabled. Improper buffer restrictions in the processor firmware allow a privileged local user to potentially escalate privileges to a higher level. The attack requires local access to the system and the attacker already needs some level of privileges.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
- High
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Intel Xeon processor in useRun 'lscpu | grep -i xeon' or check system information via 'dmidecode -s processor-version' to confirm the CPU modelAffected if The system is not using an Intel Xeon processor (different CPU architectures are not affected)
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Verify SGX is enabledOn Linux, check /dev/sgx or run 'ls /dev/sgx*' to see if SGX device nodes exist; on Windows, check in BIOS/UEFI settings under Processor or Security settings for 'Software Guard Extensions' or 'SGX' being enabledAffected if SGX is disabled or not available on the system (the vulnerability only applies when SGX is enabled)
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Check SGX status via system toolsOn Linux, run 'sgx-sys-info' if available, or check 'cpuid' output for SGX leaf (eax=7, ecx=0: check bit 2 of ebx); on Windows, use 'msinfo32' and look for SGX statusAffected if SGX is reported as 'Enabled' or 'Supported and Enabled' in system information
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Check firmware/BIOS versionRun 'dmidecode -s bios-version' or access BIOS/UEFI setup to view the firmware version; compare against Intel's published firmware advisory for this CVEAffected if The firmware version has not been updated to the Intel-patched version for this CVE (no specific version range provided, so compare against Intel's advisory)
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Check for SGX-related logsReview system logs (dmesg, Windows Event Viewer under System/Application logs) for any SGX-related errors, enclave loading failures, or unexpected SGX activityAffected if There are no specific log indicators - this check is for general visibility; the vulnerability does not produce distinctive log entries
A user is affected if they are running an Intel Xeon processor with SGX enabled and their firmware version has not been updated to the Intel-patched version for this CVE.
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 Intel-provided firmware updates for affected Xeon processors with SGX enabled. Organizations should inventory all systems with SGX functionality, obtain the appropriate firmware patches from Intel, and schedule firmware updates during maintenance windows with thorough testing to verify SGX functionality remains operational post-update.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-20053 — 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-2025-20053 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
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