City BiosOperating system · Intel

CVE-2016-8103

MEDIUM · 6.7 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-12-08
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
69/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
SMM call out in all Intel Branded NUC Kits allows a local privileged user to access the System Management Mode and take full control of the platform.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Intel NUC kits contain a vulnerability allowing a local privileged user to trigger a callout to System Management Mode (SMM), a high-privilege x86 processor mode operating below the OS. This enables the attacker to escape their current privilege context and gain firmware-level control of the platform.

MitigationApply Intel firmware updates for affected NUC kits; if patches are unavailable, implement strict physical access controls and network isolation to limit exposure to local privileged users.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
City BiosOperating system
Affected:<= ccsklm5v.86a= ccsklm30.86a<= ccsklm30.86a<= scchtax5.86a
Canyon BiosOperating system
Affected:<= kyskli70.86a<= pybwcel.86a<= fybyt10h.86a<= mybdwi5v.86a<= mybdwi30.86a<= rybdwi35.86a
Swift Canyon BiosOperating system
Affected:<= syskli35.86a
Citry BiosOperating system
Affected:<= scchtax5.86a

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Intel NUC model
    Run 'dmidecode -s system-product-name' or check system documentation/labels for Intel NUC
    Affected if System is not an Intel NUC kit (this CVE only affects specific Intel NUC models)
  2. Determine BIOS version
    Run 'dmidecode -s bios-version' to retrieve the current BIOS firmware version string
    Affected if Unable to retrieve BIOS version (firmware may be locked or inaccessible)
  3. Compare against affected City Bios versions
    Compare your BIOS version to these affected strings: ccsklm5v.86a, ccsklm30.86a, scchtax5.86a - note that <= versions before/including these are affected, = ccsklm30.86a is affected
    Affected if Your BIOS version matches or precedes any of: ccsklm5v.86a, ccsklm30.86a, scchtax5.86a (exact match for ccsklm30.86a, any version up to these)
  4. Compare against affected Canyon Bios versions
    Compare your BIOS version to these affected strings: kyskli70.86a, pybwcel.86a, fybyt10h.86a, mybdwi5v.86a, mybdwi30.86a, rybdwi35.86a - versions <= these are affected
    Affected if Your BIOS version matches or precedes any of: kyskli70.86a, pybwcel.86a, fybyt10h.86a, mybdwi5v.86a, mybdwi30.86a, rybdwi35.86a
  5. Compare against affected Swift Canyon and Citry Bios versions
    Compare your BIOS version to: syskli35.86a (Swift Canyon, <= affected), scchtax5.86a (Citry, <= affected)
    Affected if Your BIOS version is at or before syskli35.86a (Swift Canyon model) or scchtax5.86a (Citry model)

You are affected if you are running an Intel NUC with a BIOS version that matches or is older than any of the specific version strings listed for City, Canyon, Swift Canyon, or Citry models, and an unpatched local privileged user scenario exists.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Intel firmware updates for affected NUC kits; if patches are unavailable, implement strict physical access controls and network isolation to limit exposure to local privileged users.

Fix this in City Bios Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-8103 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data