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Out-of-bounds WriteWeakness · CWE-787

CVE-2026-20879

HIGH · 8.3 CVSS v4.0 Published 2026-05-12
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
85/100
Remediation priority · High
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 write for the Intel(R) Data Center Graphics Driver for VMware ESXi software before version 2.0.2 within Ring 1: Device Drivers may allow a denial of service. System software adversary with a privileged user combined with a low complexity attack may enable data corruption. 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 (high) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (none), integrity (high) and availability (high) 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 · moderate confidence

An out-of-bounds write vulnerability in the Intel Data Center Graphics Driver for VMware ESXi (versions prior to 2.0.2) within Ring 1 device drivers allows a privileged local attacker to corrupt data and cause denial of service with low complexity and no user interaction.

MitigationUpgrade the Intel Data Center Graphics Driver for VMware ESXi to version 2.0.2 or later to remediate the vulnerability.

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
Low
Privileges
High
Authentication
X
User interaction
None
Scope
X

CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

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. Verify Intel Data Center Graphics Driver is installed on ESXi host
    List installed VMware packages or drivers related to Intel graphics. On ESXi, you can use 'esxcli software vib list | grep -i intel' or check the ESXi host's vib profile.
    Affected if The driver package is present in the installed software list
  2. Retrieve the installed driver version
    Use 'esxcli software vib get' on the specific Intel graphics VIB package, or check the driver information via 'vmkload_mod -l' if the driver is loaded as a module.
    Affected if The version displayed is lower than 2.0.2 (e.g., 2.0.1, 2.0.0, or any earlier version)
  3. Confirm the driver is loaded and active
    Check if the Intel graphics driver module is loaded using 'vmkload_mod -l' or 'esxcli system module list | grep -i intel'. Also verify the associated device is present via 'lspci' or 'esxcli hardware pci list'.
    Affected if The driver shows as loaded or the Intel graphics device appears in the PCI device list
  4. Verify the Ring 1 device driver component exists
    Inspect the driver's loaded state and confirm the graphics device driver is accessible. This may involve checking '/dev' or equivalent ESXi device nodes if accessible, or verifying the driver is bound to the graphics hardware via 'vmkdevctl' or similar ESXi diagnostic tools.
    Affected if The Intel graphics driver is bound to hardware and operational

A user is affected if the Intel Data Center Graphics Driver for VMware ESXi is installed with a version lower than 2.0.2 and the driver is actively loaded or the graphics device is present in the system.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade the Intel Data Center Graphics Driver for VMware ESXi to version 2.0.2 or later to remediate the vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

Intel Data Center Graphics Driver for VMware ESXi version 2.0.2

  1. Identify the current version of Intel(R) Data Center Graphics Driver for VMware ESXi installed on the system
  2. Download Intel Data Center Graphics Driver version 2.0.2 or later from Intel's official support website
  3. Place the VMware ESXi host into maintenance mode to ensure safe driver update
  4. Install or update the Intel Data Center Graphics Driver to version 2.0.2 or later using VMware ESXi driver update procedures
  5. Reboot the ESXi host to complete the driver installation
  6. Verify the driver has been updated to version 2.0.2 or later and is functioning correctly
  7. Exit maintenance mode

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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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-2026-20879 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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