CVE-2021-0157
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 · uneditedInsufficient control flow management in the BIOS firmware for some Intel(R) Processors may allow a privileged user to potentially enable escalation of privilege 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 · moderate confidenceInsufficient control flow management in the BIOS firmware of certain Intel processors allows a privileged local user to potentially escalate privileges. The vulnerability stems from flawed control flow mechanisms within the BIOS that can be exploited to gain elevated system privileges beyond the user's current access level.
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 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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 your processor modelRun 'wmic cpu get name' on Windows, 'lscpu | grep "Model name"' on Linux, or check System Information in the OS. Alternatively, check the physical processor label or system documentation.Affected if The processor is one of: Intel Celeron N2805, N2806, N2807, N2808, N2810, N2815, N2820, or N2830
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Confirm the processor family is Celeron N2000 seriesVerify the exact processor number matches the N28xx naming pattern associated with the Intel Celeron N2000 series (Bay Trail-M).Affected if The processor model number begins with 'N28' and matches one of the eight specific models listed in the affected products
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Document the current BIOS version for referenceRun 'wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion' on Windows or 'dmidecode -s bios-version' on Linux. This records the current BIOS firmware version installed.Affected if Not applicable for vulnerability determination - this step provides baseline information since all versions are affected
You are affected if your system uses any of the following Intel Celeron processors: N2805, N2806, N2807, N2808, N2810, N2815, N2820, or N2830 - all versions of these specific models are vulnerable.
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 Intel firmware update for affected processors; BIOS/firmware updates must be obtained from the system manufacturer or Intel's official firmware distribution channels and flashed following vendor-specific procedures.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-0157 — 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-2021-0157 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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