CVE-2019-0091
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 · uneditedCode injection vulnerability in installer for Intel(R) CSME before versions 11.8.65, 11.11.65, 11.22.65, 12.0.35 and Intel(R) TXE 3.1.65, 4.0.15 may allow an unprivileged user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access.
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 confidenceCode injection vulnerability in the Intel CSME and TXE firmware installer allows an unprivileged local user to inject and execute arbitrary code, achieving privilege escalation. The vulnerability affects specific versions of CSME (before 11.8.65, 11.11.65, 11.22.65, 12.0.35) and TXE (before 3.1.65, 4.0.15).
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>= 11.8.0, < 11.8.65>= 11.11.0, < 11.11.65>= 11.22.0, < 11.22.65>= 12.0, < 12.0.35>= 3.1.0, < 3.1.65>= 4.0, < 4.0.15CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Intel CSME firmware versionUse the Intel Management Engine (ME) Firmware Version tool, Intel MEInfo tool, or system information utilities that can read the CSME firmware version from the host. On Linux, tools like 'intelmetool' or reading from /sys/class/mei/*/fw_version may provide this information.Affected if The installed CSME version is 11.8.0 or higher but below 11.8.65, OR 11.11.0 or higher but below 11.11.65, OR 11.22.0 or higher but below 11.22.65, OR 12.0.0 or higher but below 12.0.35.
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Identify Intel TXE firmware versionUse the Intel TXE firmware detection tool, Intel MEInfo with TXE support, or system firmware information utilities that expose the Trusted Execution Technology firmware version. On Linux, 'intelmetool' can also report TXE version if available.Affected if The installed TXE version is 3.1.0 or higher but below 3.1.65, OR 4.0.0 or higher but below 4.0.15.
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Confirm presence of vulnerable CSME/TXE firmwareVerify that the system contains Intel Converged Security and Management Engine (CSME) or Intel Trusted Execution Technology (TXE) firmware by checking system BIOS/UEFI information, Intel utility outputs, or device specifications for these components.Affected if The system has CSME or TXE firmware installed and the detected version falls within any of the vulnerable version ranges listed in step 1 or step 2.
A system is affected if it contains Intel CSME firmware version 11.8.0 to 11.8.64, 11.11.0 to 11.11.64, 11.22.0 to 11.22.64, or 12.0.0 to 12.0.34; or Intel TXE firmware version 3.1.0 to 3.1.64 or 4.0.0 to 4.0.14.
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 data3.1.654.0.1511.8.65
Apply Intel-provided firmware updates to patch the CSME and TXE to the specified version numbers or later, following Intel's firmware update procedures.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-0091 — 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-2019-0091 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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