CVE-2018-9069
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 · uneditedIn some Lenovo IdeaPad consumer notebook models, a race condition in the BIOS flash device locking mechanism is not adequately protected against, potentially allowing an attacker with administrator access to alter the contents of BIOS.
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 confidenceA race condition exists in the BIOS flash device locking mechanism on certain Lenovo IdeaPad consumer notebooks. An attacker with administrator-level access can potentially exploit a timing window to bypass the lock and modify BIOS firmware contents, enabling persistent firmware-level compromise.
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< 1.15< 6jcn24ww< 6jcn24ww< 6jcn24ww< 2.09< 2.09< 2.09< 2wcn38wwCVSS 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
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the system modelRun 'wmic computersystem get model' or check System Information (msinfo32) to confirm the exact HP model numberAffected if The model matches Hp 310s 14isk, Hp 320 15ikbra, Hp 320 15ikbrn, Hp 320 17ikbrn, Hp 320s 14ikb, Hp 320s 15ikb, or Hp 320s 15isk
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Retrieve the BIOS firmware versionRun 'wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion' or check the BIOS version displayed during startup (F2 to enter BIOS setup)Affected if The firmware version is below 1.15 for 310s 14isk, below 6jcn24ww for 320 15ikbra/15ikbrn variants, below 2.09 for 320s 14ikb/15ikb/17ikbrn, or below 2wcn38ww for 320s 15isk
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Verify administrator access existsCheck if the current user has administrative privileges using 'net localgroup Administrators' or User Account Control statusAffected if The user has administrator-level access, which is required to attempt exploitation of the race condition
A user is affected if they are running one of the listed HP models with a firmware version below the specified threshold and have administrator access to the system.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 data1.152wcn38ww2.09
Apply the Lenovo BIOS/firmware update for affected IdeaPad models once available. Restrict administrator access and monitor for unauthorized BIOS modifications.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-9069 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-9069 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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
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