{"id":"CVE-2026-20798","kind":"vulnerability","aliases":["CVE-2026-20798"],"related":[],"title":"Intel Graphics Driver installers: uncontrolled search path allows local privilege escalation","description":"Uncontrolled search path for some Intel(R) Graphics Driver software installers within Ring 3: User Applications may allow an escalation of privilege. Unprivileged software adversary with an authenticated user combined with a high complexity attack may enable local code execution. This result may potentially occur via local access when attack requirements are present without special internal knowledge and requires active user interaction. The potential vulnerability may impact the confidentiality (high), integrity (high) and availability (high) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (none), integrity (none) and availability (none) impacts.","summary":"Some Intel Graphics Driver software installers load code from an uncontrolled search path. A local user with an account can get code to run with higher privileges when a user runs the installer.","severity":"medium","cvss":5.4,"epss":null,"exploited":false,"exploited_at":null,"products":[],"ecosystems":[],"tags":["graphics-driver","intel","local-users","vendor","windows"],"not_affected_if":["managed-driver-deployment","no-local-untrusted-users"],"how_to_check":"- Identify installed Intel Graphics Driver versions on Windows machines and compare them with the fixed versions named by Intel (unknown in the sources)\n- Check whether the Intel Graphics Driver installer was run from a writable or untrusted folder (unknown in the sources)","fix":null,"status":"open","published_at":"2026-11-10T17:17:33+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-11-10T17:22:41+00:00","triaged_at":"2026-11-10T17:24:32+00:00","updated_at":"2026-11-10T17:24:32+00:00","category":"vendor","confidence":0.6,"triage":{"at":"2026-11-10T17:24:32Z","model":"claude-haiku-5-5","output":{"fix":"unknown","reach":"local","title":"Intel Graphics Driver installers: uncontrolled search path allows local privilege escalation","impact":"high","summary":"Some Intel Graphics Driver software installers load code from an uncontrolled search path. A local user with an account can get code to run with higher privileges when a user runs the installer.","audience":"businesses","category":"vendor","nicknames":[],"who_cares":["intel","graphics-driver","windows","local-users"],"confidence":0.6,"fix_status":"unknown","needs_auth":"yes","worst_case":"local code runs with elevated privileges on the machine","analyst_note":"Find the affected Intel Graphics Driver version ranges and fixed versions in Intel's security advisory for CVE-2026-20798 (NVD link in the sources does not list them).","how_to_check":"- Identify installed Intel Graphics Driver versions on Windows machines and compare them with the fixed versions named by Intel (unknown in the sources)\n- Check whether the Intel Graphics Driver installer was run from a writable or untrusted folder (unknown in the sources)","plain_action":"","product_name":"","needs_analyst":true,"not_affected_if":["no-local-untrusted-users","managed-driver-deployment"],"who_is_affected":"Machines where Intel Graphics Driver software installers run from a location a local user can write to. Exposure depends on local, authenticated access and active user interaction with the installer. The sources do not name the affected driver versions.","user_interaction":"yes","product_ecosystem":"","needs_special_setup":"unknown","severity_if_unknown":"unknown"},"cost_usd":0.000737,"input_tokens":4651,"output_tokens":544,"severity_before":"medium"},"analyst_status":null,"analyst_note":null,"search":"'-2026':13A,16A '-20798':14A,17A '3':73C 'access':107C 'account':45B 'activ':119C 'adversari':84C 'allow':8A,77C 'applic':75C 'attack':94C,109C 'authent':87C 'avail':133C,148C 'code':34B,48B,98C 'combin':89C 'complex':93C 'confidenti':128C,143C 'cve':12A,15A 'driver':3A,20B,30B,68C 'enabl':96C 'escal':11A,79C 'execut':99C 'get':47B 'graphic':2A,19B,29B,67C 'graphics-driv':18B 'high':92C,129C,131C,134C 'higher':52B 'impact':126C,150C 'instal':4A,32B,59B,70C 'integr':130C,145C 'intel':1A,21B,28B,65C 'interact':121C 'intern':115C 'knowledg':116C 'load':33B 'local':9A,23B,41B,97C,106C 'local-us':22B 'may':76C,95C,102C,125C 'none':144C,146C,149C 'occur':104C 'path':7A,39B,62C 'potenti':103C,123C 'present':112C 'privileg':10A,53B,81C 'r':66C 'requir':110C,118C 'result':101C,139C 'ring':72C 'run':50B,57B 'search':6A,38B,61C 'softwar':31B,69C,83C 'special':114C 'subsequ':141C 'system':138C,142C 'uncontrol':5A,37B,60C 'unprivileg':82C 'user':24B,42B,56B,74C,88C,120C 'vendor':25B 'via':105C 'vulner':124C,137C 'window':26B 'within':71C 'without':113C","nicknames":[],"mitigations":[],"who_affected":"Machines where Intel Graphics Driver software installers run from a location a local user can write to. Exposure depends on local, authenticated access and active user interaction with the installer. The sources do not name the affected driver versions.","tier":"C","verified":{},"analyst_revisit_at":null,"fix_status":"none","audience":"businesses","plain_action":null,"pkeys":[],"ptokens":[],"labels":["graphicsdriver","intel","localusers","medium","vendor","windows"],"campaign_type":null,"search_a":"'-2026':13A,16A '-20798':14A,17A 'allow':8A 'cve':12A,15A 'driver':3A 'escal':11A 'graphic':2A 'instal':4A 'intel':1A 'local':9A 'path':7A 'privileg':10A 'search':6A 'uncontrol':5A","search_b":"'account':45B 'code':34B,48B 'driver':20B,30B 'get':47B 'graphic':19B,29B 'graphics-driv':18B 'higher':52B 'instal':32B,59B 'intel':21B,28B 'load':33B 'local':23B,41B 'local-us':22B 'path':39B 'privileg':53B 'run':50B,57B 'search':38B 'softwar':31B 'uncontrol':37B 'user':24B,42B,56B 'vendor':25B 'window':26B","search_c":"'3':73C 'access':107C 'activ':119C 'adversari':84C 'allow':77C 'applic':75C 'attack':94C,109C 'authent':87C 'avail':133C,148C 'code':98C 'combin':89C 'complex':93C 'confidenti':128C,143C 'driver':68C 'enabl':96C 'escal':79C 'execut':99C 'graphic':67C 'high':92C,129C,131C,134C 'impact':126C,150C 'instal':70C 'integr':130C,145C 'intel':65C 'interact':121C 'intern':115C 'knowledg':116C 'local':97C,106C 'may':76C,95C,102C,125C 'none':144C,146C,149C 'occur':104C 'path':62C 'potenti':103C,123C 'present':112C 'privileg':81C 'r':66C 'requir':110C,118C 'result':101C,139C 'ring':72C 'search':61C 'softwar':69C,83C 'special':114C 'subsequ':141C 'system':138C,142C 'uncontrol':60C 'unprivileg':82C 'user':74C,88C,120C 'via':105C 'vulner':124C,137C 'within':71C 'without':113C","cause_entry":null,"cause_path":null,"disclosures_checked_at":null,"first_public_at":"2026-11-10T17:17:33+00:00","kev":null,"cvss_vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:L/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/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","cvss_by":"secure@intel.com","poc_count":0,"sources":[{"source":"nvd","external_id":"CVE-2026-20798","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-20798","severity":null,"published_at":"2026-11-10T17:17:33+00:00","modified_at":"2026-11-10T17:17:33+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-11-10T17:22:41+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-11-10T17:22:41+00:00","note":null}],"documents":[],"disclosures":[],"exploit_sources":[],"notice":"Free to read, with fair use of about 60 pages a minute. For higher limits or API access: sales@infrastack.ai"}