dbcve.org
Core I3Hardware / appliance · Intel

CVE-2017-5704

MEDIUM · 6.7 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-07-10
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
Platform sample code firmware included with 4th Gen Intel Core Processor, 5th Gen Intel Core Processor, 6th Gen Intel Core Processor, and 7th Gen Intel Core Processor potentially exposes password information in memory to a local attacker with administrative privileges.

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 · moderate confidence

Platform sample code firmware bundled with 4th-7th generation Intel Core processors contains a vulnerability that allows a local attacker with administrative privileges to potentially retrieve password information from system memory.

MitigationApply Intel firmware updates for affected processor generations; ensure administrative access is restricted to trusted personnel and monitor for unauthorized administrative access.

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
Core I3Hardware / appliance
Affected:= 4000m= 4005u= 4010u= 4010y= 4012y= 4020y= 4025u= 4030u= 4030y= 4100e= 4100m= 4100u
Core I5Hardware / appliance
Affected:= 7y54= 7y57= 4200h= 4200m= 4200u= 4200y= 4202y= 4210h= 4210m= 4210u= 4210y= 4220y
Core I7Hardware / appliance
Affected:= 7y75= 4500u= 4510u= 4550u= 4558u= 4578u= 4600m= 4600u= 4610m= 4610y= 4650u= 4700ec

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 your Intel Core processor model
    Run 'wmic cpu get name' on Windows or 'cat /proc/cpuinfo' on Linux to retrieve the processor model number
    Affected if The displayed model number matches one of the affected variants listed (e.g., 4000m, 4005u, 7y54, 4500u, etc.)
  2. Determine the processor generation
    Cross-reference the CPU model with Intel's generation classification (4th gen: Haswell, 5th gen: Broadwell, 6th gen: Skylake, 7th gen: Kaby Lake)
    Affected if The processor is confirmed as 4th, 5th, 6th, or 7th generation Intel Core and appears in the affected model list
  3. Check for platform sample code firmware presence
    Inspect system firmware/BIOS information via 'dmidecode -t bios' on Linux or 'wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion' on Windows; look for terms like 'sample', 'reference', 'SDK', or 'platform sample' in firmware version strings
    Affected if The firmware version string contains reference to sample code, reference firmware, or SDK components
  4. Verify sample code firmware feature status
    Check BIOS/UEFI configuration settings for enabled sample code, reference platform, or debug features; access via BIOS setup or 'powerShell "Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_BIOS"' for firmware details
    Affected if Sample code firmware features are enabled or the system firmware is identified as a sample/reference implementation rather than production firmware
  5. Review administrative access exposure
    Audit local user accounts and administrative group membership using 'net user' or 'Get-LocalGroupMember -Group Administrators' on Windows, or 'cat /etc/group' on Linux
    Affected if Multiple untrusted or unauthorized accounts exist with administrative/root privileges, increasing exploitation risk

A system is affected if it contains a processor model from the provided list AND has platform sample code firmware present with sample features enabled, making password memory retrieval possible for an attacker with administrative access.

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 processor generations; ensure administrative access is restricted to trusted personnel and monitor for unauthorized administrative access.

Fix this in Core I3 Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,080
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2017-5704 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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