Baseboard Management Controller FirmwareOperating system · Intel

CVE-2020-24473

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-06-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.48.ce3e3bd2 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
Out of bounds write in the BMC firmware for some Intel(R) Server Boards, Server Systems and Compute Modules before version 2.48.ce3e3bd2 may allow an authenticated 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 confidence

Out of bounds write vulnerability in the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) firmware for Intel server products. An authenticated user with local access to the server can exploit this memory corruption issue to elevate privileges beyond their current role, potentially gaining administrative control over the BMC itself.

MitigationUpdate Intel BMC firmware to version 2.48.ce3e3bd2 or later to patch the out-of-bounds write vulnerability. Restrict local access to only trusted administrators until the patch is applied.

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
Baseboard Management Controller FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 2.48.ce3e3bd2

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify if Intel BMC firmware is in use
    Access the BMC web interface, or use IPMI command 'ipmitool mc info' or Redfish API endpoint '/redfish/v1/Managers/1' to retrieve BMC firmware information
    Affected if The system uses Intel Baseboard Management Controller firmware
  2. Retrieve the installed BMC firmware version
    Execute 'ipmitool mc info' or check the BMC web interface firmware/version page to obtain the firmware build string
    Affected if Unable to retrieve a firmware version string indicates the BMC may not be accessible or is not an Intel BMC
  3. Compare firmware version against the vulnerable threshold
    Examine the firmware version string (typically in format like x.xx.xxxxxxxx) and compare numerically to version 2.48.ce3e3bd2
    Affected if The installed firmware version is less than 2.48.ce3e3bd2 (for example, 2.47.xxxx or earlier)
  4. Verify local access to the server exists
    Confirm physical or console access to the server where the BMC is accessible, as the vulnerability requires local access to exploit
    Affected if Local or console access to the server is available alongside a vulnerable firmware version

A system is affected if it runs Intel BMC firmware with a version string lower than 2.48.ce3e3bd2 and an attacker has local access to the server.

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 2.48.ce3e3bd2 or later
Fixed in 2.48.ce3e3bd2
Interim mitigation

Update Intel BMC firmware to version 2.48.ce3e3bd2 or later to patch the out-of-bounds write vulnerability. Restrict local access to only trusted administrators until the patch is applied.

Fix this in Baseboard Management Controller Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-24473 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-24473 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