Some of the updates released by Intel as part of the August 2019 Patch Tuesday fix high-severity vulnerabilities in NUC firmware, the Processor Identification Utility, and the Computing Improvement Program.
Intel has released BIOS updates for some of its NUC Kit and Compute devices to address CVE-2019-11140, a high-severity insufficient session validation vulnerability that could allow privilege escalation, information disclosure and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. Intel has pointed out, however, that exploitation requires local access to the targeted device.
The Intel Processor Identification Utility for Windows is affected by an insufficient access control issue, specifically a hardware abstraction driver. This high-severity flaw, tracked as CVE-2019-11163, allows privilege escalation, DoS attacks and information disclosure, but exploitation requires authentication to the targeted system.
The Processor Identification Utility is a free tool that allows users to obtain detailed information about their Intel processor.
The last high-severity flaw patched this Tuesday affects the Intel Computing Improvement Program, which uses information about a device’s performance to make future improvements to Intel products. The vulnerability is caused by an insufficient access control issue in the SEMA driver and it allows an authenticated attacker to escalate privileges, obtain information or launch DoS attacks.
Intel also informed customers that its RAID Web Console 2 (RWC2) product is affected by a medium-severity information disclosure flaw that can be exploited without authentication. RWC2 has been discontinued and Intel has advised customers to install RAID Web Console 3.
Other medium-severity flaws patched on Tuesday include privilege escalation issues in Intel Authenticate, Driver & Support Assistant, and the Remote Displays SDK.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has also advised users and administrators to review Intel’s advisories and apply patches as necessary.
Related: Intel MDS Vulnerabilities: What You Need to Know
Related: Millions of Devices With Intel CPUs Exposed to SWAPGS Attack
Related: Intel SGX Can Be Abused to Hide Advanced Malware: Researchers
Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a contributing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.
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