Intel ISA-L: Out-of-bounds write leads to local privilege escalation
Summary
Intel's Intelligent Storage Acceleration Library (ISA-L) contains an out-of-bounds write (CWE-787) that can be triggered from user-mode applications. An authenticated local user with low privileges can exploit it under certain conditions to escalate privileges and gain high confidentiality, integrity and availability impact on the vulnerable system. The CVSS 4.0 base score is 5.4 (Medium); the impact does not extend to subsequent systems.
Affected
- Intel ISA-L before version 2.32.1 (per Intel advisory INTEL-SA-01514 as summarised in the CVE record; verify against the advisory)
- Unknown: exact affected version ranges beyond this statement.
Fixed in
- Intel ISA-L version 2.32.1 or later (per Intel recommendation).
Workaround
Unknown. Intel recommends updating; no vendor workaround has been confirmed.
Exploitation
- No public exploitation known at the time of writing.
- Not listed in CISA KEV; EPSS below 1%.
- Local attack vector; requires an authenticated low-privilege account and passive user interaction.
Our recommendation
- Identify hosts and software that bundle ISA-L (for example via libisal in package lists or storage software such as Hadoop erasure coding).
- Update ISA-L to version 2.32.1 or later, or install the vendor update of your software that includes it.
- Limit local shell and user accounts on storage, NAS and multi-user hosts.
- Monitor for unexpected local privilege changes until patching is complete.
Public exploits
PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit and Exploit-DB list nothing for this CVE.
Research sources
- Intel Security Advisory INTEL-SA-01514 intel.com
- Intel Security Center www.intel.com
- OpenCVE CVE-2026-44606 app.opencve.io
- Strix CVE-2026-44606 www.strix.ai
- ISA-L project on GitHub github.com
Researched and written up in English and German by an AI (Claude by Anthropic) based on NVD, CISA, EPSS and the sources listed. The vendor information is authoritative. Researched on 11 Nov 2026, 17:24.
Original description (NVD)
Out-of-bounds write for some Intel(R) Intelligent Storage Acceleration Library within Ring 3: User Applications may allow an escalation of privilege. Unprivileged software adversary with an authenticated user combined with a low complexity attack may enable escalation of privilege. This result may potentially occur via local access when attack requirements are present without special internal knowledge and requires passive 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.
Sources
The tracker combines official, freely usable data sources – updated continuously:
- NVD (NIST) – CVEs, rating (CVSS), affected products
- CISA KEV – vulnerabilities confirmed by CISA as actively exploited
- CISA Vulnrichment – CISA assessment (SSVC) in the official CVE record
- FIRST EPSS – probability of exploitation
- Microsoft MSRC – Patch Tuesday: vulnerabilities, severity, updates
- PoC-in-GitHub – public proof-of-concept repositories
- Metasploit (Rapid7) – modules of the Metasploit Framework
- Exploit-DB (OffSec) – archive of public exploits (links only)
- Patch days: official vendor pages (linked per vendor) (Vendor patch days)
This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS data © FIRST.org.
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