CVE-2020-0529
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 · uneditedImproper initialization in BIOS firmware for 8th, 9th and 10th Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) Processor families may allow an unauthenticated 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 · moderate confidenceImproper initialization in BIOS firmware for 8th, 9th, and 10th Generation Intel Core processors allows an unauthenticated user with local access to potentially escalate privileges. The vulnerability stems from insufficient initialization of firmware components during the BIOS boot process, which could be exploited to gain elevated system privileges.
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 dataall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsCVSS 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:3.1/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 the CPU modelRun 'wmic cpu get name' or check system information (msinfo32) to identify the processor modelAffected if The CPU model matches one of the following: Core i5-7600k, i5-7600t, i5-7600, i5-7500, i5-7500t, i5-7442eq, i5-7440hq, i5-7440eq
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Verify BIOS firmware versionRun 'wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion' or check BIOS setup utility for the current BIOS versionAffected if Any version is listed since all versions of the affected firmware are vulnerable; version comparison is only relevant to confirm whether the latest Intel-provided update has been applied
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Confirm BIOS vendor and platformCheck system documentation or run 'wmic baseboard get product' to identify the system manufacturer and modelAffected if The system uses one of the affected Intel Core i5 processors listed in the CVE and ships with the vulnerable BIOS firmware initialization
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Check for recent BIOS updatesCompare current BIOS version against Intel's support site for the specific processor or system model to determine if an update has been appliedAffected if The current BIOS version predates Intel's patch release date for this CVE or no update is available from the vendor
A system is affected if it contains any of the specified Intel Core i5 processor models (7600k, 7600t, 7600, 7500, 7500t, 7442eq, 7440hq, 7440eq) and the BIOS firmware has not been updated to the Intel-patched version.
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 dataApply Intel-provided BIOS/firmware updates for affected 8th, 9th, and 10th Generation Core processors. Verify the BIOS version on all affected systems and update through vendor-supplied firmware images, ensuring to test compatibility before broad deployment.
- 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-2020-0529 — 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-2020-0529 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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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.
- 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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