{"id":"CVE-2026-40427","kind":"vulnerability","aliases":["CVE-2026-40427"],"related":[],"title":"Intel QuickAssist Windows driver: use-after-free lets a local user crash the system","description":"Use after free for some Intel(R) QuickAssist Technology Driver for Windows 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.","summary":"Some Intel QuickAssist Technology driver versions for Windows contain a use-after-free bug reachable from user-mode (Ring 3) applications. A logged-in local user with low privileges can trigger it to cause a denial of service.","severity":"medium","cvss":6.9,"epss":null,"exploited":false,"exploited_at":null,"products":[],"ecosystems":[],"tags":["infrastructure","intel-quickassist","windows"],"not_affected_if":["no-qat-driver","non-windows"],"how_to_check":"- Look for the Intel QuickAssist Technology driver on Windows machines in Device Manager or the installed driver list.\n- Compare the installed driver version against the fixed versions in Intel's advisory (unknown from these sources).","fix":null,"status":"open","published_at":"2026-11-10T17:17:42+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-11-10T17:22:43+00:00","triaged_at":"2026-11-10T17:24:03+00:00","updated_at":"2026-11-10T17:24:03+00:00","category":"infrastructure","confidence":0.6,"triage":{"at":"2026-11-10T17:24:03Z","model":"claude-haiku-5-5","output":{"fix":"unknown","reach":"local","title":"Intel QuickAssist Windows driver: use-after-free lets a local user crash the system","impact":"low","summary":"Some Intel QuickAssist Technology driver versions for Windows contain a use-after-free bug reachable from user-mode (Ring 3) applications. A logged-in local user with low privileges can trigger it to cause a denial of service.","audience":"businesses","category":"infrastructure","nicknames":[],"who_cares":["windows","intel-quickassist"],"confidence":0.6,"fix_status":"unknown","needs_auth":"yes","worst_case":"local user crashes the system, causing denial of service","analyst_note":"Find the affected and fixed driver versions in Intel's security advisory for this CVE; the NVD entry alone does not give them.","how_to_check":"- Look for the Intel QuickAssist Technology driver on Windows machines in Device Manager or the installed driver list.\n- Compare the installed driver version against the fixed versions in Intel's advisory (unknown from these sources).","plain_action":"","product_name":"","needs_analyst":true,"not_affected_if":["no-qat-driver","non-windows"],"who_is_affected":"Only Windows systems with the Intel QuickAssist Technology driver installed are exposed, and the attacker must already have a local account on the machine. The sources do not name the affected driver versions, so the team should check its installed driver against Intel's advisory. Systems without the driver can skip it.","user_interaction":"no","product_ecosystem":"","needs_special_setup":"unknown","severity_if_unknown":"unknown"},"cost_usd":0.000735,"input_tokens":4651,"output_tokens":540,"severity_before":"medium"},"analyst_status":null,"analyst_note":null,"search":"'-2026':17A,20A '-40427':18A,21A '3':48B,82C 'access':116C 'adversari':93C 'allow':86C 'applic':49B,84C 'attack':103C,118C 'authent':96C 'avail':143C,158C 'bug':41B 'caus':63B 'combin':98C 'complex':102C 'confidenti':138C,153C 'contain':35B 'crash':13A 'cve':16A,19A 'denial':65B,88C,106C 'driver':4A,31B,77C 'enabl':105C 'free':8A,40B,70C 'high':144C 'impact':136C,160C 'infrastructur':22B 'integr':140C,155C 'intel':1A,24B,28B,73C 'intel-quickassist':23B 'interact':131C 'intern':125C 'knowledg':126C 'let':9A 'local':11A,54B,115C 'log':52B 'logged-in':51B 'low':57B,101C,141C 'may':85C,104C,111C,135C 'mode':46B 'none':139C,154C,156C,159C 'occur':113C 'potenti':112C,133C 'present':122C 'privileg':58B 'quickassist':2A,25B,29B,75C 'r':74C 'reachabl':42B 'requir':119C,128C 'result':110C,149C 'ring':47B,81C 'servic':67B,90C,108C 'softwar':92C 'special':124C 'subsequ':151C 'system':15A,148C,152C 'technolog':30B,76C 'trigger':60B 'unprivileg':91C 'use':6A,38B,68C 'use-after-fre':5A,37B 'user':12A,45B,55B,83C,97C,130C 'user-mod':44B 'version':32B 'via':114C 'vulner':134C,147C 'window':3A,26B,34B,79C 'within':80C 'without':123C","nicknames":[],"mitigations":[],"who_affected":"Only Windows systems with the Intel QuickAssist Technology driver installed are exposed, and the attacker must already have a local account on the machine. The sources do not name the affected driver versions, so the team should check its installed driver against Intel's advisory. Systems without the driver can skip it.","tier":"C","verified":{},"analyst_revisit_at":null,"fix_status":"none","audience":"businesses","plain_action":null,"pkeys":[],"ptokens":[],"labels":["infrastructure","intelquickassist","medium","windows"],"campaign_type":null,"search_a":"'-2026':17A,20A '-40427':18A,21A 'crash':13A 'cve':16A,19A 'driver':4A 'free':8A 'intel':1A 'let':9A 'local':11A 'quickassist':2A 'system':15A 'use':6A 'use-after-fre':5A 'user':12A 'window':3A","search_b":"'3':48B 'applic':49B 'bug':41B 'caus':63B 'contain':35B 'denial':65B 'driver':31B 'free':40B 'infrastructur':22B 'intel':24B,28B 'intel-quickassist':23B 'local':54B 'log':52B 'logged-in':51B 'low':57B 'mode':46B 'privileg':58B 'quickassist':25B,29B 'reachabl':42B 'ring':47B 'servic':67B 'technolog':30B 'trigger':60B 'use':38B 'use-after-fre':37B 'user':45B,55B 'user-mod':44B 'version':32B 'window':26B,34B","search_c":"'3':82C 'access':116C 'adversari':93C 'allow':86C 'applic':84C 'attack':103C,118C 'authent':96C 'avail':143C,158C 'combin':98C 'complex':102C 'confidenti':138C,153C 'denial':88C,106C 'driver':77C 'enabl':105C 'free':70C 'high':144C 'impact':136C,160C 'integr':140C,155C 'intel':73C 'interact':131C 'intern':125C 'knowledg':126C 'local':115C 'low':101C,141C 'may':85C,104C,111C,135C 'none':139C,154C,156C,159C 'occur':113C 'potenti':112C,133C 'present':122C 'quickassist':75C 'r':74C 'requir':119C,128C 'result':110C,149C 'ring':81C 'servic':90C,108C 'softwar':92C 'special':124C 'subsequ':151C 'system':148C,152C 'technolog':76C 'unprivileg':91C 'use':68C 'user':83C,97C,130C 'via':114C 'vulner':134C,147C 'window':79C 'within':80C 'without':123C","cause_entry":null,"cause_path":null,"disclosures_checked_at":null,"first_public_at":"2026-11-10T17:17:42+00:00","kev":null,"cvss_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/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-2026-40427","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-40427","severity":null,"published_at":"2026-11-10T17:17:42+00:00","modified_at":"2026-11-10T17:17:42+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-11-10T17:22:43+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-11-10T17:22:43+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"}