CVE-2020-8320
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 · uneditedAn internal shell was included in BIOS image in some ThinkPad models that could allow escalation of privilege.
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 confidenceAn internal debug shell was embedded in the BIOS firmware image of certain ThinkPad laptop models, which could be exploited by an attacker with local access to achieve privilege escalation on the affected system.
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< 2020-07-10< 2020-07-10< 2020-07-10< 2020-07-10< 2020-07-10< 2020-07-10< 2020-07-10< 2020-07-10CVSS 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
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/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 ThinkPad modelOpen System Information (msinfo32) or run 'wmic csproduct get name' in Command Prompt to confirm the exact model numberAffected if The model is not one of the affected models: ThinkPad 11e Yoga Gen 6, ThinkPad 11e, ThinkPad Yoga 11e 3rd Gen, ThinkPad Yoga 11e 4th Gen, ThinkPad Yoga 11e 5th Gen, ThinkPad 13 2nd Gen, ThinkPad 13, or ThinkPad A275
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Check the BIOS firmware versionRun 'wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion' in Command Prompt, or check the BIOS version displayed when pressing Enter during ThinkPad startup, or use Lenovo Vantage or System Update toolAffected if The BIOS firmware version date is earlier than 2020-07-10 (or the version number is lower than the vendor fix) - compare your installed version against the affected ranges listed in the CVE
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Verify firmware update statusCheck if Lenovo System Update, Lenovo Vantage, or the Lenovo BIOS Update Utility has already applied a firmware version dated 2020-07-10 or laterAffected if No firmware update has been applied and the current BIOS remains at a version released before 2020-07-10
You are affected if you are using one of the listed ThinkPad models and your BIOS firmware version is dated before 2020-07-10.
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 data2020-07-10
Apply the vendor-supplied BIOS firmware update from Lenovo to remove the internal shell and remediate the vulnerability.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,456.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-8320 — 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-2020-8320 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
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