dbcve.org
Quickassist TechnologyApplication · Intel

CVE-2025-32446

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-11-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.6.0-0018 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
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
Untrusted pointer dereference for some Intel QuickAssist Technology software before version 2.6.0 within Ring 3: User Applications may allow an escalation of privilege. System software adversary with an authenticated user combined with a low complexity attack may enable data manipulation. This result may potentially occur via local access when attack requirements are not present without special internal knowledge and requires no user interaction. The potential vulnerability may impact the confidentiality (none), integrity (high) and availability (none) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (none), integrity (none) and availability (none) impacts.

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

Untrusted pointer dereference vulnerability in Intel QuickAssist Technology software versions before 2.6.0 allows authenticated local attackers to achieve privilege escalation from Ring 3 (user mode) to potentially higher privileges. The attack is low complexity, requires no user interaction, and no special internal knowledge.

MitigationUpgrade Intel QuickAssist Technology software to version 2.6.0 or later to remediate this vulnerability.

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 TechnologyApplication
Affected:< 2.6.0-0018

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
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check if Intel QuickAssist Technology software is installed
    On Windows, check Program Files for Intel QAT directories, or run 'wmic product get name,version' and look for QuickAssist or QAT entries. On Linux, check for qat_service, qat_driver packages or /opt/intel/qat directories.
    Affected if Intel QuickAssist Technology software is present on the system
  2. Identify the installed QAT software version
    On Windows, check Add/Remove Programs for the version, or check the QAT installation directory for a version file. On Linux, run 'rpm -qa | grep -i qat' or 'dpkg -l | grep -i qat' to list installed QAT packages with versions.
    Affected if Version returned is below 2.6.0-0018 or cannot be determined (unpatched)
  3. Verify the QAT driver/daemon version if applicable
    On Linux, run 'lsmod | grep qat' to check for loaded QAT kernel modules, or check /usr/local/lib/version.txt within the QAT installation. On Windows, check the driver file version via Properties of the QAT driver files in the System32/drivers folder.
    Affected if Driver version shown is below 2.6.0-0018

The system is affected if Intel QuickAssist Technology software is installed with any version prior to 2.6.0-0018.

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 2.6.0-0018 or later
Fixed in 2.6.0-0018
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Intel QuickAssist Technology software to version 2.6.0 or later to remediate this vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

Intel QuickAssist Technology 2.6.0-0018 or later

  1. 1. Identify the currently installed version of Intel QuickAssist Technology on the system
  2. 2. Navigate to Intel's official support or download page for QuickAssist Technology
  3. 3. Download Intel QuickAssist Technology version 2.6.0-0018 or later
  4. 4. Follow Intel's documented upgrade procedures to apply the update
  5. 5. Verify the installed version confirms the upgrade was successful
Caveat Review Intel release notes for any compatibility considerations before upgrading

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

Fix this in Quickassist Technology Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,970
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,152.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-32446 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2025-32446 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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