CVE-2021-0187
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 · uneditedImproper access control in the BIOS firmware for some Intel(R) Processors may allow a privileged user to potentially enable an 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 confidenceThis is an improper access control vulnerability in the BIOS firmware of certain Intel processors. A privileged local user could potentially escalate their privileges due to insufficient access controls in the BIOS/UEFI firmware, allowing them to gain higher-level system control.
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
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/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 processor modelRun 'lscpu' or check /proc/cpuinfo on Linux, or 'systeminfo' on Windows, or use CPU-Z or dmidecode to retrieve the exact processor nameAffected if The processor model matches any of these: Intel Xeon Gold 6342, Intel Xeon Gold 6346, Intel Xeon Gold 6330, Intel Xeon Platinum 8360y, Intel Xeon Gold 6354, Intel Xeon Gold 6314u, Intel Xeon Gold 6338n, or Intel Xeon Silver 4314
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Confirm firmware versionUse 'dmidecode -s bios-version' on Linux, or check the BIOS/UEFI version through the system firmware setup (F2 during boot), or use 'wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion' on WindowsAffected if All firmware versions of the affected processors are vulnerable, so any version confirms exposure if the processor model matches step 1
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Verify local access exposureAssess whether untrusted local or physical users have privileged access to the system (e.g., console access, local user accounts with elevated privileges, or shared hosting environments)Affected if The vulnerability is exploitable by a privileged local user with physical or console access to the system
You are affected if your system uses any of the listed Intel Xeon processor models and allows untrusted local users to have privileged access.
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. Restrict physical and local access to systems hosting sensitive workloads until the BIOS update is applied, as the vulnerability requires local access.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 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 $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-0187 — 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-2021-0187 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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