CWE-1281

Sequence of Processor Instructions Leads to Unexpected Behavior

Specific combinations of processor instructions lead to undesirable behavior such as locking the processor until a hard reset performed.

CVE-2025-22840 (GCVE-0-2025-22840)
Vulnerability from cvelistv5
Published
2025-08-12 16:58
Modified
2025-08-14 03:55
Severity ?
5.3 (Medium) - CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
CWE
  • Escalation of Privilege
  • CWE-1281 - Sequence of Processor Instructions Leads to Unexpected Behavior
Summary
Sequence of processor instructions leads to unexpected behavior for some Intel(R) Xeon(R) 6 Scalable processors may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access
References
https://intel.com/content/www/us/en/security-center/advisory/intel-sa-01308.html
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
n/a Intel(R) Xeon(R) 6 Scalable processors Version: See references
Show details on NVD website

To clipboard 

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Mitigation

Phase: Testing

Description:

  • Implement a rigorous testing strategy that incorporates randomization to explore instruction sequences that are unlikely to appear in normal workloads in order to identify halt and catch fire instruction sequences.
Mitigation

Phase: Patching and Maintenance

Description:

  • Patch operating system to avoid running Halt and Catch Fire type sequences or to mitigate the damage caused by unexpected behavior. See [REF-1108].
CAPEC-212: Functionality Misuse

An adversary leverages a legitimate capability of an application in such a way as to achieve a negative technical impact. The system functionality is not altered or modified but used in a way that was not intended. This is often accomplished through the overuse of a specific functionality or by leveraging functionality with design flaws that enables the adversary to gain access to unauthorized, sensitive data.

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