CVE-2020-8334
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 · uneditedThe BIOS tamper detection mechanism was not triggered in Lenovo ThinkPad T495s, X395, T495, A485, A285, A475, A275 which may allow for unauthorized 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 confidenceThe BIOS tamper detection mechanism on Lenovo ThinkPad models T495s, X395, T495, A485, A285, A475, and A275 fails to trigger properly, potentially allowing unauthorized physical access to affected systems.
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 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
- 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.
-
Identify ThinkPad modelRun 'systeminfo' on Windows or 'dmidecode -s system-product-name' on Linux to confirm the exact ThinkPad model numberAffected if Model is T495s, X395, T495, A485, A285, A475, or A275
-
Verify BIOS firmware versionRun 'wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion' on Windows or 'dmidecode -s bios-version' on Linux to confirm the installed BIOS firmware versionAffected if Any version is returned, confirming the affected firmware is installed (all versions are affected)
-
Check BIOS tamper detection configurationEnter BIOS setup (restart and press Enter or F1 during boot), navigate to Security or Advanced settings, and locate the 'Tamper Detection' or 'Physical Intrusion Detection' optionAffected if Tamper detection is present but fails to trigger or is listed as not functioning properly
You are affected if your ThinkPad is one of the seven models (T495s, X395, T495, A485, A285, A475, A275) and the BIOS tamper detection mechanism does not trigger as expected when the system chassis is opened.
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 the Lenovo BIOS/firmware update that addresses the tamper detection failure, and implement compensating physical security controls until the update can be deployed.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-8334 — 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-2020-8334 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data