CVE-2020-5388
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 · uneditedDell Inspiron 15 7579 2-in-1 BIOS versions prior to 1.31.0 contain an Improper SMM communication buffer verification vulnerability. A local authenticated malicious user may potentially exploit this vulnerability by using an SMI to gain arbitrary code execution in SMRAM.
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 confidenceThe Dell Inspiron 15 7579 2-in-1 BIOS versions prior to 1.31.0 contain an improper SMM communication buffer verification vulnerability. A local authenticated attacker can trigger this by sending a specially crafted SMI (System Management Interrupt) to execute arbitrary code in SMRAM (System Management RAM), achieving code execution at the highest privilege level outside the OS.
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< 1.31.0CVSS 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
- Physical
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/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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Confirm system model is Dell Inspiron 15 7579 2-in-1Run `dmidecode -s system-product-name` or check the physical device label/service tag on Dell support websiteAffected if The system product name does not match 'Inspiron 15 7579 2-in-1' exactly - this CVE only affects that specific model
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Determine installed BIOS versionRun `dmidecode -s bios-version` from terminal, or boot to BIOS setup (F2) and check the BIOS version listed, or use Dell SupportAssist/Update UtilityAffected if The returned version is any version number less than 1.31.0 (e.g., 1.0.0, 1.20.0, 1.30.0)
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Verify BIOS is not updated to fixed versionCompare the installed version from step 2 against version 1.31.0Affected if The installed BIOS version is below 1.31.0, meaning the SMM communication buffer flaw is present
A user is affected if they own a Dell Inspiron 15 7579 2-in-1 with BIOS firmware version lower than 1.31.0, as only that specific model and version range contain the improper SMM buffer verification vulnerability.
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 data1.31.0
Update the BIOS to version 1.31.0 or later. This is a firmware-level vulnerability that requires applying the vendor-provided BIOS update through the Dell support website or their update utility.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-5388 — 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-2020-5388 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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