Security Resilience

CVE-2023-33870

LPE in Administrative Tools For Intel Network Adapters ≤ 28.2

Published
14 February 2024
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.7
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0017 6th percentile
Risk Priority 47 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-33870 is a medium-severity Insecure Inherited Permissions (CWE-277) vulnerability in Intel Administrative Tools For Intel Network Adapters. Its CVSS base score is 6.7 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique OS Credential Dumping (T1003); ranked at the 6th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-6 (Least Privilege) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Insecure inherited permissions in some Intel(R) Ethernet tools and driver install software may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1003 OS Credential Dumping Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump credentials to obtain account login and credential material, normally in the form of a hash or a clear text password.
T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.
T1008 Fallback Channels Command And Control
Adversaries may use fallback or alternate communication channels if the primary channel is compromised or inaccessible in order to maintain reliable command and control and to avoid data transfer thresholds.
T1011 Exfiltration Over Other Network Medium Exfiltration
Adversaries may attempt to exfiltrate data over a different network medium than the command and control channel.
T1011.001 Exfiltration Over Bluetooth Exfiltration
Adversaries may attempt to exfiltrate data over Bluetooth rather than the command and control channel.
T1012 Query Registry Discovery
Adversaries may interact with the Windows Registry to gather information about the system, configuration, and installed software.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-39230Same vendor: Intel
CVE-2024-36276Same vendor: Intel
CVE-2023-34314Same vendor: Intel
CVE-2024-25561Same vendor: Intel
CVE-2024-36294Same vendor: Intel
CVE-2023-34997Same vendor: Intel
CVE-2023-28658Same vendor: Intel
CVE-2024-23908Same vendor: Intel
CVE-2024-21835Same vendor: Intel
CVE-2023-38541Same vendor: Intel

Affected Assets

intel
administrative tools for intel network adapters
≤ 28.2
intel
ethernet connections boot utility\, preboot images\, and efi drivers
≤ 28.2

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

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Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 7 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

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Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Enforces the access control policy that defines permissions on resources, thereby stopping incorrect assignments from remaining exploitable.

Least privilege requires that only the minimal necessary permissions are granted, which structurally prevents the definition and inheritance of overly broad permissions.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.AA-05 partial match
blocks

Directly addresses defining and enforcing secure access permissions and least privilege, which prevents insecure inheritance.

PR.PS-01 partial match
blocks

Configuration management practices include establishing secure permission baselines that avoid insecure inheritance.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices would catch and prevent defining insecure inherited permissions during development.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

blocks

A.5.1 only requires the existence of an overarching policy and topic-specific policies (including on access control); it does not itself enforce, implement, or act on permissions and therefore cannot stop CWE-732 from being exploitable.

blocks

A.5.12 only defines and communicates a classification scheme (with owners accountable for applying it); it does not itself enforce, restrict or decide any permissions, so the CWE-732 permission flaw can still be present and exploitable.

blocks

A.5.15 directly requires determining access needs, defining and communicating an access control policy, implementing rules that map rights/restrictions to entities (including consistency with classification), and considering need-to-know, privileged restrictions, segregation, formal authorization, and dynamic factors — which squarely stops most incorrect permission assignments from being exploitable; the bounded remainder is misconfigurations that violate the policy itself.

blocks

A.5.18 directly governs the provisioning, review, adjustment and revocation of logical access rights (including for critical resources) according to business needs, policy, SoD and risk, which stops most unintended actors from reading/modifying via incorrect permissions; the bounded remainder is incorrect permission assignments that are not access-right decisions at all (e.g. filesystem umask, ACL syntax errors).

blocks

Documented responsibility for protecting assets encourages correct permission settings rather than leaving them at insecure defaults.

finds

Monitoring supplier policy changes and conducting audits can reveal incorrect permission assignments on resources managed by the supplier, prompting corrective action before they are exploited.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (higher-evidence rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Windows Server 2016 (2 rules)
  • V-224974 Domain-created Active Directory Organizational Unit (OU) objects must have proper access control permissions. blocks CWE-277
  • V-224972 Active Directory Group Policy objects must have proper access control permissions. blocks CWE-277
Windows Server 2019 (2 rules)
  • V-205743 Windows Server 2019 organization created Active Directory Organizational Unit (OU) objects must have proper access control permissions. blocks CWE-277
  • V-205741 Windows Server 2019 Active Directory Group Policy objects must have proper access control permissions. blocks CWE-277

References