Description
Improper conditions check for the Intel(R) NPU Driver for all versions 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 (low) and availability (high) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (none), integrity (none) and availability (none) impacts.
Published: 2026-08-11
Score: 6.9 Medium
EPSS: < 1% Very Low
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

Impact

An improper conditions check in the Intel NPU Driver allows an unprivileged, authenticated user to trigger a denial of service. The vulnerability does not affect confidentiality, only reduces integrity slightly while severely impacting availability. A local attacker can cause the driver to fail, leading to system instability or crashes, with no user interaction required.

Affected Systems

All versions of the Intel NPU Driver supported by Intel are impacted. This includes drivers that run in a user‑mode context (Ring 3) on operating systems that provide the driver for accelerator usage.

Risk and Exploitability

The CVSS score of 6.9 indicates a moderate risk, and the EPSS score of less than 1% suggests a very low probability of exploitation in the wild. The attack complexity is low and requires only local access with authenticated user privileges, making it relatively easy for a malicious software process on the host to abuse the flaw. The vulnerability is not listed in CISA’s KEV catalog, further indicating that it is not a known widely used exploit.

Generated by OpenCVE AI on August 12, 2026 at 21:27 UTC.

Remediation

No vendor fix or workaround currently provided.

OpenCVE Recommended Actions

  • Check Intel Security Advisory for a patch or update to the Intel NPU Driver and install the latest compatible version.
  • If a patch is unavailable, immediately disable the NPU Driver or restrict its usage so that only privileged processes can load it.
  • Apply operating‑system hardening by restricting local unprivileged user privileges and enforcing access controls to prevent unauthorized loading of the driver.

Generated by OpenCVE AI on August 12, 2026 at 21:27 UTC.

Tracking

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Advisories

No advisories yet.

History

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 14:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Intel neural Processing Unit Driver
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:intel:neural_processing_unit_driver:*:*:*:*:*:linux:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:intel:neural_processing_unit_driver:*:*:*:*:*:windows:*:*
Vendors & Products Intel neural Processing Unit Driver
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 6.1, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H'}

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 10:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Intel
Intel npu Drivers
Vendors & Products Intel
Intel npu Drivers

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 21:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Title Improper Conditions Check in Intel NPU Driver Allows Local Denial of Service

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 16:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description Improper conditions check for the Intel(R) NPU Driver for all versions 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 (low) and availability (high) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (none), integrity (none) and availability (none) impacts.
Weaknesses CWE-754
References
Metrics cvssV4_0

{'score': 6.9, 'vector': 'CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N'}

Subscriptions

Intel Neural Processing Unit Driver Npu Drivers
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: intel

Published:

Updated: 2026-08-12T15:45:53.308Z

Reserved: 2025-12-19T04:00:14.846Z

Link: CVE-2026-20769

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-08-12T15:45:50.453Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Analyzed

Published: 2026-08-11T17:17:52.097

Modified: 2026-08-31T13:56:23.273

Link: CVE-2026-20769

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-08-13T10:30:04Z

Weaknesses
  • CWE-754

    Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions