CVE-2025-20071 is a vulnerability identified in certain Intel(R) Graphics Drivers that can lead to a denial of service (DoS) condition. The root cause of this vulnerability is a NULL pointer dereference, which occurs when the driver attempts to access memory through a pointer that has not been properly initialized or has been set to NULL. This flaw can be triggered by an authenticated user with local access to the affected system. Exploiting this vulnerability does not require user interaction beyond authentication, and no elevated privileges beyond standard user-level access are necessary. The vulnerability affects specific versions of Intel Graphics Drivers, though the exact affected versions are not detailed in the provided information. The CVSS v4.0 base score is 6.8, indicating a medium severity level. The vector string (AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N) shows that the attack vector is local, with low attack complexity, no attack prerequisites, and requires low privileges. The impact is high on availability (VA:H), meaning the primary consequence is disruption of service rather than confidentiality or integrity compromise. There are no known exploits in the wild at the time of publication, and no patches or mitigation links were provided in the source data. The vulnerability is specific to Intel Graphics Drivers, which are widely used in many computing devices including desktops, laptops, and workstations that utilize Intel integrated graphics hardware. Because the flaw causes a denial of service, an attacker could cause the graphics driver to crash or the system to become unstable, potentially requiring a reboot or causing loss of unsaved data. This could disrupt business operations, especially in environments relying on graphics-intensive applications or remote desktop sessions. The vulnerability does not allow for privilege escalation or remote code execution, limiting the scope of the threat to local denial of service.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-20071 primarily revolves around availability disruptions on systems using vulnerable Intel Graphics Drivers. Enterprises with large deployments of Intel-based workstations or servers that utilize integrated graphics could experience service interruptions if an attacker with local access triggers the vulnerability. This could affect sectors such as finance, manufacturing, research, and government agencies where workstation uptime and stability are critical. In environments with shared or multi-user systems, such as universities or public service terminals, the risk of denial of service could be higher due to multiple authenticated users having local access. Although the vulnerability requires local authentication, insider threats or compromised user accounts could be leveraged to exploit this flaw. The lack of remote exploitability reduces the risk of widespread attacks but does not eliminate the threat in environments where physical or network access to user accounts is possible. Additionally, organizations relying on remote desktop or virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) that use Intel integrated graphics might see session disruptions, impacting remote workers and service continuity. The absence of known exploits in the wild suggests that immediate risk is moderate, but the presence of a publicly disclosed vulnerability necessitates timely mitigation to prevent future exploitation.

1. Identify and inventory all systems running Intel Graphics Drivers, focusing on those with integrated Intel graphics hardware. 2. Monitor vendor advisories from Intel for official patches or driver updates addressing CVE-2025-20071 and apply them promptly once available. 3. Restrict local access to critical systems to trusted users only, enforcing strong authentication and access controls to minimize the risk of exploitation by unauthorized or malicious insiders. 4. Implement endpoint security solutions that can detect abnormal driver crashes or system instability potentially caused by exploitation attempts. 5. Educate users about the risks of local exploitation and enforce policies to prevent installation of unauthorized software or execution of untrusted code that could trigger the vulnerability. 6. For environments using remote desktop or VDI, ensure session management and monitoring to quickly detect and respond to disruptions potentially caused by this vulnerability. 7. Consider deploying application whitelisting and privilege management to limit the ability of users to interact with or manipulate graphics driver components. 8. Regularly back up critical data and ensure recovery procedures are tested to minimize impact from unexpected system crashes or reboots caused by denial of service.