# CVE-2020-8745: Privilege escalation in Intel(R) CSME, Intel(R) TXE

> An unauthenticated attacker with physical access can escalate privileges due to insufficient control flow management in Intel CSME and TXE firmware.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 12 Nov 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-wc8w-gx27-xp92

## What is CVE-2020-8745?

CVE-2020-8745 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Intel(R) CSME, Intel(R) TXE, published on 12 Nov 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Insufficient control flow management in subsystem for Intel(R) CSME versions before 11.8.80, 11.12.80, 11.22.80, 12.0.70, 13.0.40, 13.30.10, 14.0.45 and 14.5.25 , Intel(R) TXE versions before 3.1.80 and 4.0.30 may allow an unauthenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via physical access.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-8745?

It affects 22 products.


Products: Intel Converged Security and Manageability Engine, Intel Trusted Execution Technology, Siemens Simatic Drive Controller Firmware, Siemens Simatic Et200sp 1515sp Pc2 Firmware, Siemens Simatic Field Pg M5 Firmware, Siemens Simatic Field Pg M6 Firmware, Siemens Simatic Ipc127e Firmware, Siemens Simatic Ipc427e Firmware, Siemens Simatic Ipc477e Firmware, Siemens Simatic Ipc527g Firmware, Siemens Simatic Ipc547g Firmware, Siemens Simatic Ipc627e Firmware, Siemens Simatic Ipc647e Firmware, Siemens Simatic Ipc667e Firmware, Siemens Simatic Ipc847e Firmware, Siemens Simatic Itp1000 Firmware, Siemens Sinumerik 828d Hw Pu.4 Firmware, Siemens Sinumerik 840d Sl Ht 10 Firmware, Siemens Sinumerik Mc Mcu 1720 Firmware, Siemens Sinumerik One Firmware and 2 more.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-8745?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-8745 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-8745 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-8745 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Intel(R) CSME, Intel(R) TXE

- [CVE-2020-12297](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-12297/): Privilege escalation in Intel(R) CSME, Intel TXE (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2020-12303](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-12303/): Use after free in Intel(R) CSME, Intel(R) TXE (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2020-24516](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-24516/): Privilege escalation in Intel(R) CSME versions (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2020-8705](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-8705/): Misconfiguration in Intel(R) Boot Guard, Intel(R) CSME, Intel(R) TXE, Intel(R) SPS (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2020-8703](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-8703/): Privilege escalation in Intel(R) CSME versions (medium 6.7)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-8745 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-8745 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Intel(R) CSME, Intel(R) TXE, published on 12 Nov 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-8745 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Intel(R) CSME, Intel(R) TXE. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-8745/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-8745/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-8745
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-8745
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-8745

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-8745/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.