CVE-2025-32446
Intel Quickassist Technology ≤ 2.6.0-0018
Raw vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/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:XSummary
CVE-2025-32446 is a medium-severity Untrusted Pointer Dereference (CWE-822) vulnerability in Intel Quickassist Technology. Its CVSS base score is 6.8 (Medium).
Operationally, ranked at the 2th 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-6 (Least Privilege) and SI-16 (Memory Protection) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-93479
Vulnerability Data
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.…
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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.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly implements memory protection safeguards that block exploitation of untrusted pointer dereferences in user-space Ring 3 code.
Enforces least privilege on authenticated local users, limiting the scope of any successful privilege-escalation attempt via the QAT flaw.
Requires prompt application of the vendor fix (version 2.6.0) that eliminates the untrusted pointer dereference vulnerability.
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.
Secure SDLC practices directly prevent introduction of untrusted pointer handling during development.
Runtime monitoring of software and data can detect adverse events resulting from exploitation of the weakness.
Vulnerability identification processes can discover instances of this weakness via code review or scanning.
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.
Security testing can detect pointer-dereference flaws before release.
Secure development lifecycle includes pointer-safety practices that reduce untrusted pointer dereference risk.
Application security requirements can mandate validation of pointers obtained from untrusted sources.
Secure architecture principles discourage direct use of untrusted values as pointers.
Secure coding standards explicitly forbid dereferencing pointers derived from untrusted input.