dbcve.org
Bmc FirmwareOperating system · Intel

CVE-2020-11615

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-10-29
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.38.30 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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
NVIDIA DGX servers, all BMC firmware versions prior to 3.38.30, contain a vulnerability in the AMI BMC firmware in which it uses a hard-coded RC4 cipher key, which may lead to information disclosure.

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 confidence

NVIDIA DGX servers contain a hard-coded RC4 cipher key in the AMI Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) firmware versions prior to 3.38.30. This cryptographic key, being embedded in the firmware image, can be extracted and used to decrypt sensitive communications or data protected by RC4 encryption, leading to information disclosure.

MitigationUpdate the BMC firmware to version 3.38.30 or later on all affected NVIDIA DGX servers. Consider rotating any keys or credentials that may have been protected by the compromised RC4 cipher.

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
Bmc FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 3.38.30

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
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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 BMC firmware version
    Access the BMC web interface or use IPMI command 'ipmitool -I lanplus -H <bmc_host> -U <user> -P <pass> mc info' to retrieve the firmware version
    Affected if The displayed firmware version is below 3.38.30
  2. Confirm BMC hardware vendor
    Check the BMC hardware vendor information via IPMI 'ipmitool -I lanplus -H <bmc_host> -U <user> -P <pass> mc info' or BMC web interface system information page
    Affected if The BMC is Intel-based and the firmware version is less than 3.38.30
  3. Identify RC4-encrypted data flows
    Review network traffic captures or examine configurations for any communications or data protected by RC4 encryption involving the BMC
    Affected if RC4 encryption is used to protect data and the BMC firmware version is below 3.38.30

The environment is affected if the Intel BMC firmware version is lower than 3.38.30, as the hard-coded RC4 cipher key could enable decryption of sensitive communications.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 3.38.30 or later
Fixed in 3.38.30
Interim mitigation

Update the BMC firmware to version 3.38.30 or later on all affected NVIDIA DGX servers. Consider rotating any keys or credentials that may have been protected by the compromised RC4 cipher.

Fix this in Bmc Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2020-11615 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