📄 Description (English)
Intel Active Management Technology (AMT), Small Business Technology (SBT), and Standard Manageability Privilege Escalation Vulnerability — Intel products contain a vulnerability which can allow attackers to perform privilege escalation.
🤖 AI Executive Summary
CVE-2017-5689 is a critical privilege escalation vulnerability in Intel Active Management Technology (AMT), Small Business Technology (SBT), and Standard Manageability firmware. An unprivileged attacker can gain full control of affected systems remotely via the AMT web interface by sending a crafted authentication response with an empty or short response string, effectively bypassing authentication entirely. With a CVSS score of 9.0 and publicly available exploits, this vulnerability poses an extreme risk to any organization using Intel vPro-based systems with AMT enabled. This vulnerability has been actively exploited in the wild since its disclosure in May 2017.
📄 Description (Arabic)
🤖 AI Intelligence Analysis Analyzed: Apr 8, 2026 11:23
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia Impact Assessment
This vulnerability has severe implications for Saudi organizations across multiple sectors. Government entities under NCA oversight, banking institutions regulated by SAMA, energy sector companies including ARAMCO and its contractors, and telecom providers like STC all extensively use Intel-based enterprise hardware with vPro/AMT capabilities. AMT is commonly enabled in enterprise environments for remote management, making data centers, server rooms, and corporate workstations vulnerable to complete remote takeover without authentication. Saudi critical infrastructure facilities using Intel-based SCADA management systems or industrial workstations with AMT enabled are at particular risk. The vulnerability allows attackers to bypass all OS-level security controls since AMT operates at the firmware level below the operating system.
🏢 Affected Saudi Sectors
Government
Banking
Energy
Telecom
Healthcare
Defense
Education
Critical Infrastructure
⚖️ Saudi Risk Score (AI)
9.5
/ 10.0
🔧 Remediation Steps (English)
IMMEDIATE ACTIONS:
1. Identify all Intel systems with AMT/SBT/Standard Manageability enabled using Intel's INTEL-SA-00075 Detection Guide and Discovery Tool
2. Disable AMT provisioning on all systems where it is not actively required — use the Intel AMT Configuration Utility or BIOS settings
3. Block ports 16992, 16993, 16994, 16995, 623, and 664 at network firewalls and host-based firewalls immediately
4. Restrict AMT web interface access to dedicated management VLANs only
PATCHING GUIDANCE:
5. Apply Intel firmware updates per INTEL-SA-00075 advisory — affected firmware versions are 6.x through 11.6
6. Contact your hardware OEM (Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc.) for specific BIOS/firmware updates that include the Intel fix
7. For systems that cannot be patched, use Intel's mitigation tool (INTEL-SA-00075 Mitigation Guide) to unprovision AMT
DETECTION RULES:
8. Monitor for HTTP traffic on ports 16992/16993 with empty or truncated Digest Authentication response fields
9. Deploy IDS/IPS signatures for CVE-2017-5689 exploitation attempts (Snort/Suricata rules available)
10. Audit AMT provisioning state across all Intel-based assets and maintain an inventory
11. Monitor for unauthorized AMT re-provisioning attempts
🔧 خطوات المعالجة (العربية)
الإجراءات الفورية:
1. تحديد جميع أنظمة إنتل التي تم تفعيل AMT/SBT/الإدارة القياسية عليها باستخدام دليل الكشف وأداة الاكتشاف INTEL-SA-00075
2. تعطيل توفير AMT على جميع الأنظمة التي لا تحتاجه بشكل نشط — استخدم أداة تكوين Intel AMT أو إعدادات BIOS
3. حظر المنافذ 16992 و16993 و16994 و16995 و623 و664 على جدران الحماية الشبكية وجدران الحماية المضيفة فوراً
4. تقييد الوصول إلى واجهة AMT الويب على شبكات VLAN المخصصة للإدارة فقط
إرشادات التصحيح:
5. تطبيق تحديثات البرنامج الثابت من إنتل وفقاً لتحذير INTEL-SA-00075 — الإصدارات المتأثرة من 6.x إلى 11.6
6. التواصل مع الشركة المصنعة للأجهزة (Dell، HP، Lenovo، إلخ) للحصول على تحديثات BIOS/البرنامج الثابت المحددة
7. للأنظمة التي لا يمكن تصحيحها، استخدم أداة التخفيف من إنتل لإلغاء توفير AMT
قواعد الكشف:
8. مراقبة حركة HTTP على المنافذ 16992/16993 مع حقول استجابة مصادقة Digest فارغة أو مبتورة
9. نشر توقيعات IDS/IPS لمحاولات استغلال CVE-2017-5689
10. تدقيق حالة توفير AMT عبر جميع الأصول المبنية على إنتل والحفاظ على جرد محدث
11. مراقبة محاولات إعادة توفير AMT غير المصرح بها
📋 Regulatory Compliance Mapping
🟢 NCA ECC 2024
ECC-2:3-1 (Asset Management)
ECC-2:5-1 (Vulnerability Management)
ECC-2:3-4 (Network Security)
ECC-2:4-1 (Access Control)
ECC-2:5-2 (Patch Management)
🔵 SAMA CSF
3.3.3 (Vulnerability Management)
3.3.4 (Patch Management)
3.3.7 (Network Security Management)
3.3.5 (Access Control)
3.4.1 (Threat Intelligence)
🟡 ISO 27001:2022
A.8.8 (Management of Technical Vulnerabilities)
A.8.9 (Configuration Management)
A.8.20 (Network Security)
A.8.5 (Secure Authentication)
A.5.7 (Threat Intelligence)
🟣 PCI DSS v4.0
6.3.3 (Patching Security Vulnerabilities)
11.3 (Vulnerability Scanning)
1.3 (Network Access Controls)
2.2 (System Configuration Standards)
7.1 (Restrict Access by Business Need)
🔗 References & Sources 0
No references.
📦 Affected Products / CPE 1 entries
Intel:Active Management Technology (AMT), Small Business Technology (SBT), and Standard Manageability