Buffer overflow in Intel Neural Processing Unit Driver
CVE-2026-20731
Improper buffer restrictions for the Intel(R) NPU Driver for all versions within Ring 3: User Applications may allow a denial of service. Unprivileged software adversary with an authenticated user combined with a low complexity attack may enable denial of service. This result may potentially occur via local access when attack requirements are not present without special internal knowledge and requires no user interaction. The potential vulnerability may impact the confidentiality (none), integrity (low) and availability (high) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (none), integrity (none) and availability (none) impacts.
Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 6.1 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.001 (1.0th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 1st percentile — 1.0% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.001 · newest: 0.001 · change: -0.000
Affected products
- Intel Neural Processing Unit Driver
- Intel(r) Npu Driver — versions all versions
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
- intel.com/content/www/us/en/security-center/advisory/intel-sa-01456.html (Vendor Advisory)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-20731?
- CVE-2026-20731 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Intel Neural Processing Unit Driver, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 6.1/10. Published 2026-08-11.
- How severe is CVE-2026-20731?
- Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.1 out of 10.