Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-44454 is a local privilege-escalation issue in a third-party component bundled with Intel Quartus Prime Pro Edition before 21.3. An attacker needs authenticated local access, but successful abuse could have high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact. The main business concern is older Quartus installations on engineering workstations or build systems.
Executive priority
Treat as a high-priority engineering workstation and build-host hygiene item, not an emergency internet exposure. Prioritize systems where untrusted or many users have local accounts, because successful abuse could elevate privileges and affect sensitive FPGA design assets.
Technical view
The issue is CWE-20 improper input validation affecting Intel Quartus Prime Pro Edition before version 21.3. CVSS 3.1 is 7.8: local attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction, unchanged scope, and high CIA impact. The provided sources do not describe exploit mechanics.
Likely exposure
Organizations using Intel Quartus Prime Pro Edition before 21.3 are potentially exposed, especially FPGA development, lab, shared engineering, or build environments. The cited CVSS vector indicates local-only exposure; the sources do not indicate internet-facing attack surface.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not cite public exploitation, and KEV is false. Exploitation requires authenticated local access to a system with an affected Quartus installation. No cited source in the bundle confirms active exploitation, exploit availability, or detailed attack technique.
Researcher notes
The bundle identifies the affected product and CVSS vector but not the vulnerable third-party component, code path, or exploit preconditions beyond local authenticated access. Analysis should stay limited to version-based exposure and vendor advisory validation unless additional primary sources are obtained.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Intel Quartus Prime Pro Edition to version 21.3 or later per Intel guidance.
- Restrict local access to engineering systems running affected Quartus versions until upgraded.
- Remove unsupported or unused affected Quartus installations from workstations and build hosts.
- Monitor Intel advisory updates for any revised remediation guidance.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Quartus Prime Pro Edition installations and record installed versions.
- Confirm no production or lab host runs a version before 21.3.
- Review local user access on affected engineering and build systems.
- Check vulnerability management records for CVE-2021-44454 remediation status.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
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CWE-20: Exact CWE lookup
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Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-44454 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H1.85.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.8HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/security-center/advisory/intel-sa-00632.htmlCVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Input Validation
Improper Input Validation represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.