CVE-2025-30508: Intel Quick Assist Technology DoS Flaw

CVE-2025-30508 Overview

CVE-2025-30508 is an improper authorization vulnerability affecting Intel Quick Assist Technology (QAT) for certain Intel platforms. The vulnerability exists within the Ring 0 (Kernel) driver component and allows an authenticated local attacker to cause a denial of service condition. This authorization bypass flaw enables unprivileged software to disrupt system availability through local access with low attack complexity.

Critical Impact

Local attackers with authenticated access can exploit improper authorization controls in the Intel QAT kernel driver to cause denial of service, potentially disrupting cryptographic acceleration and compression services across affected Intel platforms.

Affected Products

• Intel Quick Assist Technology (QAT) Driver for Intel Platforms
• Intel Platforms with QAT Hardware Acceleration Support
• Systems utilizing Intel QAT for cryptographic and compression operations

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-02-10 - CVE-2025-30508 published to NVD
• 2026-02-10 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-30508

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability stems from improper authorization controls (CWE-285) within the Intel Quick Assist Technology kernel driver operating at Ring 0 privilege level. The flaw allows an authenticated but unprivileged user to bypass authorization checks designed to protect kernel-level QAT operations.

Intel QAT provides hardware-accelerated cryptographic operations and data compression services, commonly used in data center environments for SSL/TLS offloading, VPN acceleration, and storage compression. The kernel driver mediates access between user-space applications and the QAT hardware. When authorization checks are improperly implemented, attackers can submit malicious requests that disrupt the driver's normal operation.

The vulnerability requires local access and an authenticated user context, but does not require elevated privileges or user interaction to exploit. While the vulnerability does not impact data confidentiality or integrity, it can completely disrupt system availability by crashing or hanging the QAT kernel driver.

Root Cause

The root cause is classified as CWE-285 (Improper Authorization). The Intel QAT kernel driver fails to properly validate authorization credentials or permissions before processing certain requests. This allows authenticated but unprivileged users to perform operations that should be restricted to authorized processes or privileged users. The authorization gap exists in the kernel-space driver code where user requests are processed without adequate access control verification.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is local, requiring the attacker to have authenticated access to the target system. The attacker does not need administrative privileges, special hardware access, or user interaction to trigger the vulnerability. Once authenticated, the attacker can craft and submit requests to the QAT driver that exploit the authorization bypass, causing the driver to enter an error state, crash, or become unresponsive.

The attack flow involves:

1. Attacker gains authenticated local access to a system with Intel QAT
2. Attacker identifies the QAT driver interface
3. Attacker submits specially crafted requests that bypass authorization checks
4. The kernel driver processes unauthorized operations leading to denial of service

Since no verified proof-of-concept code is publicly available, technical exploitation details should be referenced from the Intel Security Advisory SA-01406.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-30508

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected crashes or restarts of Intel QAT driver services
• System log entries indicating QAT driver errors or kernel panics related to QAT modules
• Unusual access patterns to QAT device nodes from unprivileged user accounts
• Performance degradation in applications relying on QAT hardware acceleration

Detection Strategies

• Monitor system logs for kernel errors related to qat or Intel Quick Assist Technology modules
• Implement audit logging for access to QAT device interfaces (/dev/qat_* device nodes)
• Deploy endpoint detection rules to identify anomalous process behavior targeting QAT driver interfaces
• Use SentinelOne Singularity platform to detect unusual kernel-level activity and driver interactions

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable kernel auditing to track interactions with QAT driver interfaces
• Configure system monitoring to alert on QAT service failures or unexpected restarts
• Review user authentication logs for accounts accessing QAT-enabled systems
• Implement baseline monitoring for QAT driver resource utilization patterns

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-30508

Immediate Actions Required

• Review and apply the latest Intel QAT driver updates from the official Intel advisory
• Audit user accounts with local access to QAT-enabled systems and enforce least-privilege principles
• Restrict access to QAT device interfaces to only authorized applications and services
• Enable additional logging and monitoring for QAT driver activity

Patch Information

Intel has released security guidance addressing this vulnerability. Administrators should consult the Intel Security Advisory SA-01406 for specific patch information, affected driver versions, and remediation instructions. Apply the recommended driver updates to all affected Intel platforms running Quick Assist Technology.

Workarounds

• Limit local access to QAT-enabled systems to trusted users only
• Implement additional access controls around QAT device node permissions
• Consider temporarily disabling QAT services on non-critical systems until patches can be applied
• Use SentinelOne endpoint protection to monitor and alert on suspicious kernel driver activity

# Check current Intel QAT driver version
modinfo qat_c62x 2>/dev/null || modinfo qat_4xxx 2>/dev/null

# Review QAT device permissions
ls -la /dev/qat_* 2>/dev/null

# Monitor QAT-related kernel messages
dmesg | grep -i qat

# Restrict QAT device access (example - adjust for your environment)
# chmod 600 /dev/qat_*
# chown root:qatgroup /dev/qat_*