Intel QAT Software CVE-2026-20914

Q: What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-20914?

CVE-2026-20914 has a CVSS 4.0 base score of 6.8 (Medium). CVSS vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/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:X. EPSS exploitation probability: 0.0%.

EUVD-2026-29535 MEDIUM

NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476)

2026-05-12 intel

GHSA-rvg5-p33g-wfp5

Denial Of Service Microsoft Intel Null Pointer Dereference Intel R Qat Software Drivers For Windows

6.8

CVSS 4.0 · NVD

Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY

6.8 MEDIUM

CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/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:X

vuln.today AI

5.5 MEDIUM

Local-only attack vector with low privileges confirmed by CVSS 4.0 input and description; availability-only impact consistent with null pointer dereference crash.

3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

4.0 AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Primary rating from NVD.

CVSS VectorNVD

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

None

Scope

Lifecycle Timeline

Analysis Generated

Jul 23, 2026 - 22:17 vuln.today

CVSS changed

May 12, 2026 - 17:22 NVD

6.8 (MEDIUM)

CVE Published

May 12, 2026 - 16:35 nvd

MEDIUM 6.8

CVE Published

May 12, 2026 - 16:35 nvd

UNKNOWN (no severity yet)

DescriptionCVE.org

Null pointer dereference for some Intel(R) QAT software drivers for Windows before version 2.6.0 within Ring 3: User Applications may allow a denial of service. Unprivileged software adversary with an authenticated user combined with a low complexity attack may enable denial of service. 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 (none) and availability (high) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (none), integrity (none) and availability (none) impacts.

AnalysisAI

Null pointer dereference in Intel Quick Assist Technology (QAT) software drivers for Windows before version 2.6.0 enables denial of service by local authenticated users operating within Ring 3 (user-space). The flaw requires low complexity and no user interaction, allowing a low-privileged local adversary to crash the affected driver component, producing availability loss with no confidentiality or integrity impact. No active exploitation is confirmed (not in CISA KEV), and EPSS sits at 0.01% (3rd percentile), indicating negligible real-world exploitation activity at time of analysis.

Technical ContextAI

Intel QAT (Quick Assist Technology) is a hardware-accelerated cryptographic and compression offload engine used in enterprise and data center environments. The Windows software driver stack exposes user-space interfaces in Ring 3 to allow applications to interact with QAT hardware. CWE-476 (Null Pointer Dereference) identifies the root cause: a code path within the Ring 3 driver component fails to validate a pointer before dereferencing it, resulting in an access violation or kernel-mode fault that terminates the driver context. The CPE string cpe:2.3:a:n/a:intel(r)_qat_software_drivers_for_windows:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* covers all versions of the Windows driver suite prior to 2.6.0 as affected. The vulnerability is scoped to the vulnerable system with no scope change to subsequent systems.

RemediationAI

The primary remediation is to upgrade Intel QAT software drivers for Windows to version 2.6.0 or later, as confirmed by Intel advisory INTEL-SA-01387 (https://intel.com/content/www/us/en/security-center/advisory/intel-sa-01387.html). Organizations unable to patch immediately should consider restricting local user access to systems running QAT-dependent workloads, particularly limiting which accounts can invoke QAT driver interfaces. Where QAT is used for optional acceleration rather than a critical service dependency, temporarily disabling the QAT driver service reduces attack surface at the cost of software-only cryptographic/compression performance. Note that disabling the driver on systems with performance-sensitive workloads (e.g., TLS termination offload, data compression pipelines) may introduce measurable throughput degradation.