CVE-2025-32735: Intel NPU Drivers DoS Vulnerability

CVE-2025-32735 Overview

CVE-2025-32735 is a firmware vulnerability affecting some Intel Neural Processing Unit (NPU) Drivers within Ring 1 device drivers. The vulnerability stems from an improper conditions check that may allow an authenticated attacker with local access to trigger a denial of service condition. This flaw enables unprivileged software adversaries to impact system availability through low-complexity attacks that require no user interaction.

Critical Impact

Authenticated local attackers can exploit improper condition validation in Intel NPU firmware drivers to cause denial of service, potentially disrupting AI and machine learning workloads that depend on NPU hardware acceleration.

Affected Products

• Intel NPU Drivers (specific firmware versions)
• Ring 1 Device Drivers for Intel NPU
• Systems utilizing Intel Neural Processing Units

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-02-10 - CVE CVE-2025-32735 published to NVD
• 2026-02-10 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-32735

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability exists within the firmware layer of Intel NPU drivers, specifically in Ring 1 device drivers. The flaw is classified as CWE-754 (Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions), indicating that the driver firmware fails to properly validate certain conditions during operation.

The vulnerability requires local access to exploit and can be triggered by an authenticated user with low privileges. The attack complexity is low, meaning no specialized conditions or preparation are required beyond having local access to the affected system. Once exploited, the vulnerability impacts system availability while confidentiality and integrity remain unaffected.

Intel NPU drivers operate at Ring 1 privilege level, which provides elevated access compared to user-mode applications but less than kernel (Ring 0) privileges. The improper conditions check in this context allows malicious input or operations to bypass normal validation, leading to driver instability or failure.

Root Cause

The root cause is CWE-754: Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions. The affected firmware does not adequately verify boundary conditions, edge cases, or exceptional states during driver operations. This oversight allows specially crafted inputs or sequences to trigger undefined behavior, resulting in denial of service conditions.

When the driver encounters unusual conditions that should be handled gracefully, the improper validation logic fails to catch and process these scenarios appropriately. This allows the system to enter an unstable state where the NPU driver becomes unresponsive or crashes.

Attack Vector

The attack requires local access to the target system with authenticated user privileges. An attacker with low-privilege access can exploit the improper conditions check by interacting with the Intel NPU driver through standard system interfaces.

The exploitation flow involves:

1. Attacker gains local access to a system with vulnerable Intel NPU firmware drivers
2. Using low-privilege authenticated access, the attacker sends malformed requests or triggers unusual conditions
3. The firmware's improper validation fails to handle the exceptional condition
4. The NPU driver enters a denial of service state, impacting system availability

For detailed technical information about the vulnerability mechanism, refer to the Intel Security Advisory SA-01403.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-32735

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected Intel NPU driver crashes or service interruptions
• Repeated system event log entries indicating NPU driver failures
• Abnormal resource consumption patterns associated with NPU operations
• System stability issues specifically affecting AI/ML workloads utilizing NPU hardware

Detection Strategies

• Monitor Windows Event Log or system logs for Intel NPU driver error events and crash reports
• Implement endpoint detection rules to identify patterns of repeated driver failures from low-privilege processes
• Deploy behavioral analysis to detect anomalous interactions with Intel NPU driver interfaces
• Audit local user activities for unusual NPU-related system calls or driver communications

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable verbose logging for Intel NPU driver operations where supported
• Configure alerts for driver stability metrics and unexpected restarts
• Monitor for patterns of authenticated users triggering driver exceptions
• Track firmware version deployment across endpoints to ensure patch compliance

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-32735

Immediate Actions Required

• Review the Intel Security Advisory SA-01403 for specific guidance and affected version information
• Inventory all systems with Intel NPU hardware to identify potentially affected endpoints
• Restrict local access to systems running vulnerable Intel NPU drivers to trusted users only
• Prioritize patching for systems where NPU availability is critical to operations

Patch Information

Intel has published security advisory Intel SA-01403 addressing this vulnerability. Administrators should consult this advisory for specific firmware versions affected and obtain the latest Intel NPU driver firmware updates through official Intel channels. Apply firmware updates according to your organization's change management procedures.

Workarounds

• Limit local authentication access to systems with vulnerable Intel NPU drivers to reduce attack surface
• Implement application control policies to restrict which processes can interact with NPU driver interfaces
• Consider disabling Intel NPU functionality on non-critical systems until patches can be applied
• Monitor driver behavior closely and implement automated recovery mechanisms for NPU driver failures

# Configuration example
# Check current Intel NPU driver version (Windows PowerShell)
Get-WmiObject Win32_PnPSignedDriver | Where-Object {$_.DeviceName -like "*Intel*NPU*"} | Select-Object DeviceName, DriverVersion

# Review system event logs for NPU-related errors
Get-WinEvent -LogName System | Where-Object {$_.Message -like "*NPU*" -or $_.Message -like "*Neural*"} | Select-Object -First 20