CVE-2026-20709 Hardcoded credentials in Intel(R) Pentium(R) Processor Silver Series, Intel(R) Celeron(R) Processor J Series, Intel(R) Celeron(R) Processor N Series may allow an escalation of privilege. Hardware reverse engineer adversary with a privileged user combined with a high complexity attack may enable escalation of privilege. This result may potentially occur via physical access when attack requirements are present with special internal knowledge and requires no user interaction. The potential vulnerability may impact the confidentiality (high), integrity (none) and availability (none) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (high), integrity (high) and availability (none) impacts.
A hardcoded cryptographic key in Intel processor firmware allows privileged attackers with physical access to escalate privileges and read sensitive data.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- An administrator
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-20709?
CVE-2026-20709 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Intel(R) Pentium(R) Processor Silver Series, Intel(R) Celeron(R) Processor J Series, Intel(R) Celeron(R) Processor N Series may allow an escalation of privilege. Hardware reverse engineer adversary with a privileged user combined with a high complexity attack may enable escalation of privilege. This result may potentially occur via physical access when attack requirements are present with special internal knowledge and requires no user interaction. The potential vulnerability may impact the confidentiality (high), integrity (none) and availability (none) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (high), integrity (high) and availability (none) impacts., published on 8 Apr 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Use of Default Cryptographic Key in the hardware for some Intel(R) Pentium(R) Processor Silver Series, Intel(R) Celeron(R) Processor J Series, Intel(R) Celeron(R) Processor N Series may allow an escalation of privilege. Hardware reverse engineer adversary with a privileged user combined with a high complexity attack may enable escalation of privilege. This result may potentially occur via physical access when attack requirements are present with special internal knowledge and requires no user interaction. The potential vulnerability may impact the confidentiality (high), integrity (none) and availability (none) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (high), integrity (high) and availability (none) impacts.
Weakness: CWE-1394
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-20709?
How do I fix CVE-2026-20709?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-20709 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Is CVE-2026-20709 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-20709 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-vfxw-prhr-fvhh.