Improper handling of values in the microcode flow for some Intel(R) Processor Family may allow an escalation of privilege. Startup code and smm adversary with a privileged user combined with a high complexity attack may enable escalation of privilege. This result may potentially occur via local access when attack requirements are present with special internal knowledge and requires no user interaction. The potential vulnerability may impact the confidentiality (low), integrity (low) and availability (none) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (low), integrity (low) and availability (none) impacts.

It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ALAS2023-2026-1675 advisory.

    Improper handling of values in the microcode flow for some Intel(R) Processor Family may allow an     escalation of privilege. Startup code and smm adversary with a privileged user combined with a high     complexity attack may enable escalation of privilege. This result may potentially occur via local access     when attack requirements are present with special internal knowledge and requires no user interaction. The     potential vulnerability may impact the confidentiality (low), integrity (low) and availability (none) of     the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (low), integrity (low) and     availability (none) impacts. (CVE-2025-31648)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the tested product security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The version of microcode_ctl installed on the remote host is prior to 2.1-47. It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ALAS2-2026-3294 advisory.

    Improper handling of values in the microcode flow for some Intel(R) Processor Family may allow an     escalation of privilege. Startup code and smm adversary with a privileged user combined with a high     complexity attack may enable escalation of privilege. This result may potentially occur via local access     when attack requirements are present with special internal knowledge and requires no user interaction. The     potential vulnerability may impact the confidentiality (low), integrity (low) and availability (none) of     the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (low), integrity (low) and     availability (none) impacts. (CVE-2025-31648)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the tested product security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote Ubuntu 16.04 LTS / 18.04 LTS / 20.04 LTS / 22.04 LTS / 24.04 LTS / 25.10 host has a package installed that is affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the USN-8068-1 advisory.

    Sergiu Ghetie discovered that some Intel processors did not properly handle values in the microcode     flow. A local authenticated user could potentially use this issue to escalate their privileges.

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote SUSE Linux SLED15 / SLED_SAP15 / SLES15 / SLES_SAP15 / openSUSE 15 host has a package installed that is affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the SUSE-SU-2026:0668-1 advisory.

    - Intel CPU Microcode was updated to the 20260210 release (bsc#1258046)
    - CVE-2024-24853: Updated fix for incorrect behavior order in transition       between executive monitor and SMI transfer monitor (STM) in some Intel(R)       Processor may allow a privileged user to potentially enable escalation       of privilege via local access. (bsc#1229129)
    - CVE-2025-31648: Improper handling of values in the microcode flow for       some Intel Processor Family may allow an escalation of privilege. (bsc#1258046)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the SUSE security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote SUSE Linux SLES12 host has a package installed that is affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the SUSE-SU-2026:0669-1 advisory.

    - Intel CPU Microcode was updated to the 20260210 release (bsc#1258046)
    - CVE-2024-24853: Updated fix for incorrect behavior order in transition       between executive monitor and SMI transfer monitor (STM) in some Intel(R)       Processor may allow a privileged user to potentially enable escalation       of privilege via local access. (bsc#1229129)
    - CVE-2025-31648: Improper handling of values in the microcode flow for       some Intel Processor Family may allow an escalation of privilege. (bsc#1258046)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the SUSE security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote SUSE Linux SLES11 host has a package installed that is affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the SUSE-SU-2026:0670-1 advisory.

    - Intel CPU Microcode was updated to the 20260210 release (bsc#1258046)
    - CVE-2024-24853: Updated fix for incorrect behavior order in transition       between executive monitor and SMI transfer monitor (STM) in some Intel(R)       Processor may allow a privileged user to potentially enable escalation       of privilege via local access. (bsc#1229129)
    - CVE-2025-31648: Improper handling of values in the microcode flow for       some Intel Processor Family may allow an escalation of privilege. (bsc#1258046)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the SUSE security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

  - Improper handling of values in the microcode flow for some Intel(R) Processor Family may allow an     escalation of privilege. Startup code and smm adversary with a privileged user combined with a high     complexity attack may enable escalation of privilege. This result may potentially occur via local access     when attack requirements are present with special internal knowledge and requires no user interaction. The     potential vulnerability may impact the confidentiality (low), integrity (low) and availability (none) of     the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (low), integrity (low) and     availability (none) impacts. (CVE-2025-31648)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Severity
315628	Amazon Linux 2023 : microcode_ctl (ALAS2023-2026-1675)	Nessus	Amazon Linux Local Security Checks	low
314556	Amazon Linux 2 : microcode_ctl, --advisory ALAS2-2026-3294 (ALAS-2026-3294)	Nessus	Amazon Linux Local Security Checks	low
300969	Ubuntu 16.04 LTS / 18.04 LTS / 20.04 LTS / 22.04 LTS / 24.04 LTS / 25.10 : Intel Microcode vulnerability (USN-8068-1)	Nessus	Ubuntu Local Security Checks	low
300229	SUSE SLED15 / SLES15 / openSUSE 15 Security Update : ucode-intel (SUSE-SU-2026:0668-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	high
300206	SUSE SLES12 Security Update : ucode-intel (SUSE-SU-2026:0669-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	high
300189	SUSE SLES11 Security Update : ucode-intel (SUSE-SU-2026:0670-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	high
298652	Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-31648	Nessus	Misc.	low

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2025-31648

low

Tenable Plugins

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low

low

high

high

high

low