Vulnerability · Published Aug 11, 2026 · Assigned by intel

CVE-2026-20898

High 8.5

In plain English

A high-severity improper access control in in Alias Checking Trusted Module for some Intel(R) Xeon(R) processors may allow an escalation of privilege. Startup code and SMM adversary with a privileged user combined with a high complexity attack. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.1% (higher than 2% of all known vulnerabilities).

Severity (CVSS 4.0)8.5High
Exploit odds (30 days)0.1%top 97.6% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

Improper access control in the firmware for some in Alias Checking Trusted Module for some Intel(R) Xeon(R) processors may allow an escalation of privilege. Startup code and SMM adversary with a privileged user combined with a high complexity attack may enable escalation of privilege. 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 (high), integrity (high) and availability (none) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (high), integrity (high) and availability (none) impacts.

Affected products (as reported)

Weakness: CWE-284 · Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:N

References