Intel removed DX12 support from fourth-gen CPUs to fix a security issue

In a somewhat radical move, Intel decided to purge the DirectX 12 support from old Haswell-based processors. Beginning with the driver 15.40.44.5107, integrated graphics in fourth-gen Intel CPUs no longer work with the latest graphics APIs from Microsoft. The chipmaker says they had to remove the DirectX 12 support to fix a security issue.

"A potential security vulnerability in Intel® Graphics may allow escalation of privilege on 4th Generation Intel® Core™ processors. Intel has released a software update to mitigate this potential vulnerability. In order to mitigate the vulnerability, DirectX 12 capabilities were deprecated."

The change applies to the following Intel processors with built-in graphics:

• Intel Core 4th Gen processors with Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200;

• Intel Core 4th Gen processors with Intel Iris Graphics 5100;

• Intel Core 4th Gen processors with Intel HD Graphics 5000, 4600, 4400, and 4200;

• Intel Pentium and Celeron processors based on the 4th Gen Intel Core architecture with Intel HD Graphics;

Computers with the fourth-gen Intel processors remain relatively capable machines that still satisfy the needs of many users across the globe. Naturally, some will be rightly upset about the change. For those not liking how Intel decided to fix the security issue, the company says it is possible to install older iGPU drivers to reclaim the lost DirectX 12 support (version 15.40.42.5063 or older).

Remember that the problem affects only iGPUs in processors, which means dedicated graphics cards that support DirectX 12 will run applications and games without issues. It is also worth mentioning that the DirectX 12 APIs are available only on Windows 10 and 11. The latter does not officially support Haswell-based processors.

You can read more about the issue with DirectX 12 in the Intel Haswell-based CPUs on Intel's support website.