{"id":42519,"date":"2025-05-22T13:08:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T13:08:20","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-05-31T05:02:43","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T11:02:43","slug":"cve-2025-20018-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-intel-graphics-drivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-20018-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-intel-graphics-drivers\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-20018: Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in Intel Graphics Drivers<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The CVE-2025-20018 is a serious vulnerability detected in some versions of Intel Graphics Drivers. This security flaw allows an authenticated user to manipulate an untrusted pointer and potentially escalate their privileges via local access. Given that these drivers are widely used in several devices, this vulnerability could have far-reaching, devastating effects if exploited. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-27891-samsung-mobile-and-wearable-processors-vulnerability-leads-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"49330\">potential for system<\/a> compromise and data leakage makes this a critical issue that requires immediate attention and action.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-20018<br \/>\nSeverity: High (8.4 CVSS score)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Local<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: Low<br \/>\nUser Interaction: Required<br \/>\nImpact: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2024-52880-critical-vulnerability-in-insyde-insydeh2o-kernels-potentially-leading-to-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"51482\">Potential system<\/a> compromise or data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-1553727206\" class=\"ameeb-content-2 ameeb-entity-placement\"><div style=\"border-left: 4px solid #555; padding-left: 20px; margin: 48px 0; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; line-height: 1.6; max-width: 720px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center; letter-spacing: -0.02em;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 10px;\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Best-App-icon-Ameeba.png\" alt=\"Ameeba Chat Icon\" style=\"width: 42px; height: 42px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    Share secrets securely\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 14px; color: #d1d5db;\">\r\n    Ameeba is private infrastructure for communication and sensitive work built on encrypted identity instead of exposed corporate identity systems.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 18px; color: #a1a1aa;\">\r\n    Passwords, credentials, confidential files, screenshots, internal discussions, sensitive AI context, and private coordination should not become exposed across ordinary communication platforms.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #e4e4e7;\">\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Private Spaces for organizations and teams<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, files, and notes<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Sensitive AI work and protected collaboration<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Built for information that cannot leak<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #ffffff;\">\r\n    Our mission is to secure human work alongside AI.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <div style=\"display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 12px;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\/download\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Download Ameeba\r\n    <\/a>\r\n\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Learn More\r\n    <\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p>Intel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-20003-escalation-of-privilege-vulnerability-in-intel-r-graphics-driver-software\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"50285\">Graphics Drivers<\/a> | All versions prior to patch<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2022-47965-critical-memory-handling-vulnerability-in-macos-ventura-13\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"48183\">vulnerability stems from the handling<\/a> of pointers by the Intel Graphics Drivers. Specifically, an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-39349-critical-deserialization-of-untrusted-data-vulnerability-in-ciyashop\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"52567\">untrusted pointer dereference vulnerability<\/a> exists. A pointer, in computer programming, is a variable that stores the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2024-49842-critical-memory-corruption-vulnerability-in-protected-vm-address-space\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"77815\">memory address<\/a> of another variable. Dereferencing a pointer means accessing the data <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2024-11267-sql-injection-vulnerability-in-jsp-store-locator-wordpress-plugin\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"50367\">stored at the memory location<\/a> pointed by the pointer. An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-50165-untrusted-pointer-dereference-in-microsoft-graphics-component\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"77814\">untrusted pointer dereference<\/a> can lead to unexpected behaviour, such as changing the value of a variable without the program&#8217;s knowledge.<br \/>\nIn the case of CVE-2025-20018, an authenticated user can manipulate this untrusted pointer to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2022-47915-kernel-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-macos-ventura-13\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"47762\">escalate their privileges<\/a>. This essentially means that a lower-privileged user could gain higher-level access rights, potentially giving them full <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-43564-improper-access-control-vulnerability-in-coldfusion-leading-to-arbitrary-file-system-read\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"49387\">control over the system<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-1824390457\" class=\"ameeb-content ameeb-entity-placement\"><div class=\"poptin-embedded\" data-id=\"f6b387694f681\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>While it&#8217;s not advisable to provide exact <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-32401-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-macos-leads-to-potential-arbitrary-code-execution\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"51647\">code for potentially<\/a> malicious activities, a conceptual representation would look something like:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">#include &lt;stdio.h&gt;\nint main() {\nint *untrusted_pointer = get_untrusted_pointer();\nint privileged_data = 0;\nif (authenticate_user()) {\n*untrusted_pointer = &amp;privileged_data;\n}\n\/\/ The user can now manipulate the privileged data\n\/\/ through the dereferenced untrusted pointer.\nreturn 0;\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n<p><strong>Mitigation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The best course of action to mitigate the risk posed by CVE-2025-20018 is to apply the vendor&#8217;s patch. Intel has already released a patch that addresses this vulnerability and all users are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/escalating-cybersecurity-threats-to-healthcare-providers-hscc-urges-immediate-action\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"48184\">urged to update their drivers immediately<\/a>.<br \/>\nAs a temporary mitigation, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can help detect and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-4648-integrity-check-vulnerability-in-centreon-web-leading-to-potential-xss-injection\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"49889\">potentially block attempts to exploit this vulnerability<\/a>. However, these are not long-term solutions and the patch should be applied as soon as possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview The CVE-2025-20018 is a serious vulnerability detected in some versions of Intel Graphics Drivers. This security flaw allows an authenticated user to manipulate an untrusted pointer and potentially escalate their privileges via local access. Given that these drivers are widely used in several devices, this vulnerability could have far-reaching, devastating effects if exploited. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"vendor":[],"product":[],"attack_vector":[76],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-42519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","attack_vector-privilege-escalation"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42519"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70215,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42519\/revisions\/70215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42519"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=42519"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=42519"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=42519"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=42519"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=42519"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=42519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}