Intel Driver & Support Assistant Link Following Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Vulnerability

CVE-2023-50197 is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in the Intel Driver & Support Assistant (DSA) service. The specific flaw resides within the DSA Service and can be triggered by creating a symbolic link, which the service follows to write a file. The vulnerability affects Intel Driver & Support Assistant; the exact affected versions are not disclosed in the available references [1].

Exploitation

An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system to exploit this vulnerability. The attacker then creates a symbolic link that abusively causes the DSA Service to write a file to an unintended location, leveraging the service's high-integrity operations [1].

Impact

Successful exploitation allows the attacker to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of SYSTEM, leading to complete compromise of the affected system [1].

Mitigation

As of the publication date (2024-05-03), no patch or fixed version has been announced in the available references. Users should monitor Intel's security advisories for updates. No workaround is provided in the referenced advisory [1].