CVE-2020-8670

Local privilege escalation via firmware race condition

Published Jun 9, 2021 · Updated Aug 4, 2024

A race condition in firmware for some Intel processors allows local users to escalate privileges through local access. Intel does not identify the affected firmware routine, shared resource, or competing operations that create the race window. Exploitation requires existing high privileges and a difficult timing condition, but successful abuse crosses a security boundary and grants higher privileges.

CVSS severity7.5
High
EPSS probability0.27%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

A race condition in firmware for some Intel processors allows local users to escalate privileges through local access. Intel does not identify the affected firmware routine, shared resource, or competing operations that create the race window. Exploitation requires existing high privileges and a difficult timing condition, but successful abuse crosses a security boundary and grants higher privileges.

The record

CVE
CVE-2020-8670
Published
Jun 9, 2021
Updated
Aug 4, 2024
Vendor
Unknown vendor
Product
Unknown product
Classifications
CWE-362, CAPEC-26, CAPEC-29, T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
admin

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jun 9, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 4, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Affected buildAffected product and version details are unavailable.

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesadmin

What is affected?

Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.

Published CVSS scores

4.4NIST NVDAV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
7.5Intel CorporationCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
6.4NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesadmin
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-362Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')
CAPEC-26Leveraging Race Conditions
CAPEC-29Leveraging Time-of-Check and Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) Race Conditions
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

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