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Xeon E7 8894 V4 FirmwareOperating system · Intel

CVE-2021-0155

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-05-12
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Unchecked return value in the BIOS firmware for some Intel(R) Processors may allow a privileged user to potentially enable information disclosure 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 unchecked return value in the BIOS firmware of certain Intel processors allows a privileged user with local access to potentially trigger information disclosure. This is a firmware-level vulnerability where the BIOS fails to properly validate a return value, leading to undefined behavior that can expose sensitive data.

MitigationApply the Intel-provided BIOS firmware update for affected processors. Contact the system OEM/vendor for the specific BIOS update and follow their update procedure, as BIOS updates require careful deployment to avoid system corruption.

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
Xeon E7 8894 V4 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Xeon E7 4809 V4 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Xeon E7 4820 V4 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Xeon E7 4830 V4 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Xeon E7 4850 V4 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Xeon E7 8860 V4 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Xeon E7 8867 V4 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Xeon E7 8870 V4 FirmwareOperating 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
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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 the processor model
    Run 'dmidecode -s processor-version' or check system information to determine the exact CPU model
    Affected if The processor is NOT one of these: Xeon E7-8894 V4, Xeon E7-4809 V4, Xeon E7-4820 V4, Xeon E7-4830 V4, Xeon E7-4850 V4, Xeon E7-8860 V4, Xeon E7-8867 V4, or Xeon E7-8870 V4
  2. Check BIOS firmware version
    Run 'dmidecode -s bios-version' or access BIOS/UEFI setup to view the current firmware version
    Affected if The processor matches one of the affected Xeon E7 V4 models listed above (all firmware versions for these processors are affected)
  3. Verify system is not a virtualized environment
    Check if the system is running as a virtual machine (hypervisor detection) - BIOS firmware vulnerabilities typically do not apply to virtual CPUs
    Affected if The workload is running on virtualized hardware where the underlying physical BIOS is not directly accessible or used

If your system uses any of the listed Intel Xeon E7 V4 processors and runs directly on physical hardware with its original BIOS firmware, you are affected by this 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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the Intel-provided BIOS firmware update for affected processors. Contact the system OEM/vendor for the specific BIOS update and follow their update procedure, as BIOS updates require careful deployment to avoid system corruption.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Contact Intel or your system OEM for the specific patched BIOS version for your Xeon E7 v4 processor - Intel typically releases firmware updates through their Intel Security Center advisory INTEL-SA-00459

  1. Check with your server/system manufacturer (Dell, HPE, Lenovo, etc.) for the latest BIOS/firmware update for your specific server model
  2. If using an Intel reference platform or OEM system, download the latest Intel Xeon E7 v4 family BIOS/firmware update from the manufacturer's support site
  3. Apply the firmware update following the manufacturer's recommended procedure, which typically involves: (1) downloading the update utility, (2) running the update from a supported operating system or via IPMI/BMC, (3) rebooting the system to complete the flash process
  4. Verify the BIOS version has been updated to the patched release after applying the update
Caveat Firmware updates may require system downtime and should be tested in a non-production environment first; ensure proper backup of BIOS configuration settings

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Xeon E7 8894 V4 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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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-2021-0155 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