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Ryzen Mobile FirmwareOperating system · Amd

CVE-2018-8930

CRITICAL · 9.0 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-03-22
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
99/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
The AMD EPYC Server, Ryzen, Ryzen Pro, and Ryzen Mobile processor chips have insufficient enforcement of Hardware Validated Boot, aka MASTERKEY-1, MASTERKEY-2, and MASTERKEY-3.

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

AMD EPYC Server, Ryzen, Ryzen Pro, and Ryzen Mobile processor chips have insufficient enforcement of Hardware Validated Boot, allowing potential bypass of the secure boot mechanism. This hardware/firmware vulnerability (MASTERKEY-1, 2, 3) could permit execution of unauthorized code at the firmware level.

MitigationApply AMD-provided firmware/microcode updates and corresponding BIOS updates from system manufacturers; contact AMD for specific patch availability and deployment guidance.

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
Ryzen Mobile FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Ryzen Pro FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Epyc Server FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Ryzen FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions

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
Network
Complexity
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/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 AMD processor in the system
    Run 'dmidecode -t processor' or 'lscpu | grep -i AMD' to confirm the processor model is one of the Ryzen, Ryzen Pro, Ryzen Mobile, or EPYC families
    Affected if The system uses any AMD Ryzen, Ryzen Pro, Ryzen Mobile, or EPYC processor
  2. Check system firmware version
    Run 'dmidecode -s bios-version' or check UEFI/BIOS setup screen for the firmware/microcode version installed on the system
    Affected if The firmware version is present and corresponds to AMD processor microcode (all versions of AMD Ryzen/EPYC firmware are affected)
  3. Verify secure boot status
    Check UEFI/BIOS settings for 'Secure Boot' or 'Hardware Validated Boot' configuration status; on Linux, 'mokutil --sb-state' can indicate if secure boot is enabled
    Affected if Secure Boot or Hardware Validated Boot is currently disabled or not enforced in the firmware settings
  4. Confirm secure boot bypass exposure
    Review system boot logs or firmware audit logs for any indication of unsigned firmware code execution or boot chain integrity violations
    Affected if There is evidence of unauthorized code execution at the firmware level or boot process integrity cannot be verified

A user is affected if they run an AMD Ryzen, Ryzen Pro, Ryzen Mobile, or EPYC processor with secure boot or Hardware Validated Boot disabled or bypassed in the firmware configuration.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply AMD-provided firmware/microcode updates and corresponding BIOS updates from system manufacturers; contact AMD for specific patch availability and deployment guidance.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Contact AMD or your OEM vendor for the specific fixed firmware release

  1. Contact AMD or your system manufacturer (OEM) to obtain and apply the latest firmware update that addresses the Hardware Validated Boot vulnerability (MASTERKEY-1, MASTERKEY-2, MASTERKEY-3)
  2. For server systems (EPYC), check with your server vendor (HPE, Dell, etc.) for platform-specific firmware updates
  3. For client systems (Ryzen, Ryzen Pro, Ryzen Mobile), check with your original equipment manufacturer for BIOS/firmware updates
  4. Verify the applied firmware version matches the version recommended by AMD as containing the fix
Caveat Firmware updates may require system downtime and should be tested in a non-production environment first

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Ryzen Mobile Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation20.0 h
  • Implementation40.0 h
  • Testing30.0 h
  • Review / QA20.0 h
110.0 hours of engineering $19,300
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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-2018-8930 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