dbcve.org
BiosOperating system · Intel

CVE-2020-8672

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-02-02
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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 bound read in BIOS firmware for 8th, 9th Generation Intel(R) Core(TM), Intel(R) Celeron(R) Processor 4000 Series Processors may allow an unauthenticated user to potentially enable elevation of privilege or denial of service 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 · high confidence

An out-of-bounds read vulnerability exists in the BIOS firmware of 8th and 9th Generation Intel Core processors and Intel Celeron Processor 4000 Series. A local, unauthenticated attacker could exploit this to read sensitive memory contents, potentially leading to elevation of privilege or denial of service.

MitigationApply the latest BIOS/firmware update provided by the system or motherboard manufacturer for affected Intel processors. This typically requires downloading the update from the vendor's support site and running the firmware update utility.

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
BiosOperating system
Affected:all versions

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 your processor model
    Run 'wmic cpu get name' or check system information to determine the CPU model
    Affected if The processor is an 8th or 9th Generation Intel Core processor or Intel Celeron 4000 Series
  2. Check the installed BIOS version
    Run 'wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion' or check in BIOS/UEFI setup under the Main or Information tab
    Affected if A BIOS version is installed (all versions are affected according to the advisory)
  3. Verify the system uses Intel processors in the affected families
    Cross-reference your CPU model against Intel's 8th Gen (Coffee Lake, Whiskey Lake) and 9th Gen (Coffee Lake Refresh) Core families, or Celeron 4000 Series (Gemini Lake)
    Affected if The CPU matches the affected processor families

You are affected if your system uses an 8th or 9th Generation Intel Core processor or Intel Celeron 4000 Series, regardless of BIOS version, as all BIOS versions for these platforms contain the vulnerability.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the latest BIOS/firmware update provided by the system or motherboard manufacturer for affected Intel processors. This typically requires downloading the update from the vendor's support site and running the firmware update utility.

Fix this in Bios Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
32.0 hours of engineering $5,600
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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-2020-8672 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