Improper access control for some Intel(R) Processors within Ring 3: User Applications may allow an escalation of privilege. Simple hardware adversary with an authenticated 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 (high), integrity (high) and availability (none) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (none), integrity (none) and availability (none) impacts.

The version of microcode_ctl installed on the remote host is prior to 2.1-47. It is, therefore, affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the ALAS2-2026-3872 advisory.

    Improper handling of overlap between protected memory ranges for some Intel(R) Xeon(R) 6 processors when     using Intel(R) TDX within SMM may allow an escalation of privilege. 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 (high), integrity (high)     and availability (none) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (none),     integrity (none) and availability (none) impacts. (CVE-2025-31936)

    Insufficient granularity of access control in some subsystem for some Intel(R) Xeon(R) 6 Scalable     processors with Intel(R) TDX may allow an information disclosure. Authorized adversary with an     authenticated user combined with a high complexity attack may enable data exposure. 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 (none),     integrity (none) and availability (none) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system     confidentiality (high), integrity (none) and availability (none) impacts. (CVE-2025-31938)

    Improper handling of values for some Intel(R) Processors within Ring 0: Kernel, Hypervisor and Bare Metal     OS may allow an escalation of privilege. Authorized 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 require 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 (high), integrity (high) and     availability (none) impacts. (CVE-2025-35973)

    Hardware logic contains race conditions for some 3rd Gen Intel(R) Xeon(R) Scalable Processors within Ring     3: unprivileged software may allow a denial of service. Unprivileged software adversary with an     authenticated user combined with a high complexity attack may enable denial of service. This result may     potentially occur via local access when attack requirements are not present with special internal     knowledge and requires no user interaction. The potential vulnerability may impact the confidentiality     (none), integrity (none) and availability (high) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system     confidentiality (none), integrity (none) and availability (high) impacts. (CVE-2026-20707)

    Always-incorrect control flow implementation in some firmware for some Intel(R) Xeon(R) processors may     allow an escalation of privilege. System software 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 not present without special internal knowledge and requires no user     interaction. The potential vulnerability may impact the confidentiality (none), integrity (none) and     availability (none) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (high),     integrity (high) and availability (none) impacts. (CVE-2026-20713)

    Improper access control for some Intel(R) Processors within Ring 3: User Applications may allow an     escalation of privilege. Simple hardware adversary with an authenticated 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 (high), integrity (high) and availability (none) of     the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (none), integrity (none) and     availability (none) impacts. (CVE-2026-20716)

    Improper input validation for some Intel(R) Xeon(R) processors within firmware may allow an escalation of     privilege. Startup code and smm adversary with a privileged user combined with a high complexity attack     may enable data alteration. This result may potentially occur via local access when attack requirements     are present without special internal knowledge and requires no user interaction. The potential     vulnerability may impact the confidentiality (none), integrity (none) and availability (none) of the     vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (none), integrity (high) and     availability (none) impacts. (CVE-2026-20901)

    Exposure of sensitive information caused by incorrect data forwarding during transient execution for some     Intel(R) Processors within Ring 0: Hypervisor and Kernel may allow information disclosure. System software     adversary with a privileged user combined with a high complexity attack may enable data exposure. 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 (none) and availability (none) of the vulnerable system, resulting in     subsequent system confidentiality (high), integrity (none) and availability (none) impacts.
    (CVE-2026-20917)

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

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

It is, therefore, affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the ALAS2023-2026-2080 advisory.

    Improper handling of overlap between protected memory ranges for some Intel(R) Xeon(R) 6 processors when     using Intel(R) TDX within SMM may allow an escalation of privilege. 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 (high), integrity (high)     and availability (none) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (none),     integrity (none) and availability (none) impacts. (CVE-2025-31936)

    Insufficient granularity of access control in some subsystem for some Intel(R) Xeon(R) 6 Scalable     processors with Intel(R) TDX may allow an information disclosure. Authorized adversary with an     authenticated user combined with a high complexity attack may enable data exposure. 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 (none),     integrity (none) and availability (none) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system     confidentiality (high), integrity (none) and availability (none) impacts. (CVE-2025-31938)

    Improper handling of values for some Intel(R) Processors within Ring 0: Kernel, Hypervisor and Bare Metal     OS may allow an escalation of privilege. Authorized 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 require 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 (high), integrity (high) and     availability (none) impacts. (CVE-2025-35973)

    Hardware logic contains race conditions for some 3rd Gen Intel(R) Xeon(R) Scalable Processors within Ring     3: unprivileged software may allow a denial of service. Unprivileged software adversary with an     authenticated user combined with a high complexity attack may enable denial of service. This result may     potentially occur via local access when attack requirements are not present with special internal     knowledge and requires no user interaction. The potential vulnerability may impact the confidentiality     (none), integrity (none) and availability (high) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system     confidentiality (none), integrity (none) and availability (high) impacts. (CVE-2026-20707)

    Always-incorrect control flow implementation in some firmware for some Intel(R) Xeon(R) processors may     allow an escalation of privilege. System software 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 not present without special internal knowledge and requires no user     interaction. The potential vulnerability may impact the confidentiality (none), integrity (none) and     availability (none) of the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (high),     integrity (high) and availability (none) impacts. (CVE-2026-20713)

    Improper access control for some Intel(R) Processors within Ring 3: User Applications may allow an     escalation of privilege. Simple hardware adversary with an authenticated 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 (high), integrity (high) and availability (none) of     the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (none), integrity (none) and     availability (none) impacts. (CVE-2026-20716)

    Improper input validation for some Intel(R) Xeon(R) processors within firmware may allow an escalation of     privilege. Startup code and smm adversary with a privileged user combined with a high complexity attack     may enable data alteration. This result may potentially occur via local access when attack requirements     are present without special internal knowledge and requires no user interaction. The potential     vulnerability may impact the confidentiality (none), integrity (none) and availability (none) of the     vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (none), integrity (high) and     availability (none) impacts. (CVE-2026-20901)

    Exposure of sensitive information caused by incorrect data forwarding during transient execution for some     Intel(R) Processors within Ring 0: Hypervisor and Kernel may allow information disclosure. System software     adversary with a privileged user combined with a high complexity attack may enable data exposure. 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 (none) and availability (none) of the vulnerable system, resulting in     subsequent system confidentiality (high), integrity (none) and availability (none) impacts.
    (CVE-2026-20917)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the tested product 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 access control for some Intel(R) Processors within Ring 3: User Applications may allow an     escalation of privilege. Simple hardware adversary with an authenticated 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 (high), integrity (high) and availability (none) of     the vulnerable system, resulting in subsequent system confidentiality (none), integrity (none) and     availability (none) impacts. (CVE-2026-20716)

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

ID	Name	Product	Family	Type	Severity
341906	Amazon Linux 2 : microcode_ctl, --advisory ALAS2-2026-3872 (ALAS-2026-3872)	Nessus	Amazon Linux Local Security Checks	Local	high
341838	Amazon Linux 2023 : microcode_ctl (ALAS2023-2026-2080)	Nessus	Amazon Linux Local Security Checks	Local	high
334654	Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-20716	Nessus	Misc.	Local	high

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CVE-2026-20716

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Tenable Plugins

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