CVE-2025-35998 is a vulnerability identified in Intel platforms that utilize Intel Quick Assist Technology (QAT), a hardware acceleration technology designed to offload cryptographic and compression workloads. The root cause is a missing protection mechanism for an alternate hardware interface accessible within the kernel's Ring 0, which governs the highest privilege level in the system. This flaw allows a system software adversary who already has privileged user access (e.g., administrator or root) and possesses some special internal knowledge about the hardware interface to perform an escalation of privilege attack. The attack vector is local, requiring no user interaction, and has low complexity, meaning it does not require sophisticated exploitation techniques. The vulnerability impacts confidentiality and integrity of the system by potentially allowing unauthorized access or modification of sensitive data or system components. However, it does not affect system availability. The CVSS 4.0 score of 7 (high) reflects the significant impact on confidentiality and integrity combined with the requirement for privileged access and local attack vector. No patches or exploits are currently publicly available, but the vulnerability is officially published and tracked. The lack of user interaction and low complexity increases the risk in environments where privileged access is not tightly controlled. Intel Quick Assist Technology is commonly found in enterprise-grade servers and networking equipment, making this vulnerability relevant to data centers and cloud providers.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-35998 can be substantial, especially for those relying on Intel-based servers and networking devices that incorporate Intel Quick Assist Technology. The vulnerability allows an attacker with existing privileged access to escalate their privileges further, potentially gaining full control over the system kernel. This can lead to unauthorized disclosure or modification of sensitive data, undermining confidentiality and integrity. Critical infrastructure, financial institutions, and government agencies in Europe that depend on Intel platforms for secure data processing could face increased risk of insider threats or lateral movement by attackers who have compromised privileged accounts. Although availability is not directly impacted, the breach of confidentiality and integrity can lead to regulatory non-compliance under GDPR and other data protection laws, resulting in legal and financial consequences. The absence of known exploits in the wild currently reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the threat, especially as attackers may develop exploits once patches are released or reverse-engineered.

European organizations should implement the following specific mitigations: 1) Monitor Intel’s security advisories closely and apply patches or firmware updates for Intel Quick Assist Technology as soon as they become available. 2) Restrict and audit privileged user access rigorously to minimize the number of accounts that can exploit this vulnerability. 3) Employ hardware and software-based access controls to limit local access to critical systems, including physical security measures and network segmentation to reduce attack surface. 4) Use endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools to monitor for unusual privilege escalation activities or kernel-level anomalies. 5) Conduct regular security training for system administrators to recognize and prevent misuse of privileged accounts. 6) Consider disabling Intel Quick Assist Technology features if not required or if a patch is unavailable, after evaluating operational impact. 7) Implement strict change management and logging to detect unauthorized modifications to kernel-level components. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on controlling privileged access and monitoring kernel-level activities specific to this vulnerability’s exploitation path.