CVE-2021-0188
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 · uneditedReturn of pointer value outside of expected range in the BIOS firmware for some Intel(R) Processors may allow a privileged user to potentially enable aescalation 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 a BIOS/UEFI firmware vulnerability in Intel processors where a pointer value is returned outside its expected memory range, allowing a privileged local user to potentially escalate their privileges. The vulnerability stems from insufficient bounds checking on pointer values within the BIOS firmware code.
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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify processor modelRun 'wmic cpu get Name,NumberOfCores,NumberOfLogicalProcessors' or check system information (msinfo32) to confirm the CPU is an Intel Xeon E3 V5 series processorAffected if The processor model matches any of these: E3-1558L V5, E3-1565L V5, E3-1578L V5, E3-1585 V5, E3-1585L V5, E3-1515M V5, E3-1545M V5, or E3-1575M V5
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Check BIOS versionRun 'wmic bios get SMBIOSBIOSVersion,Version' or access BIOS/UEFI setup during boot to view the firmware versionAffected if The system uses any of the affected processor models listed above (all firmware versions of these processors are vulnerable)
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Verify local privileged access existsCheck for users with administrative or SYSTEM-level privileges using 'whoami /all' or reviewing local group memberships (Administrators, Remote Desktop Users with admin rights)Affected if A local privileged user account exists on the affected system, which is required to exploit this vulnerability
If the system contains any of the listed Intel Xeon E3 V5 processor models and has local privileged user accounts, the environment is affected by this vulnerability as all firmware versions of these processors lack the required bounds checking fix.
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 latest BIOS/firmware update provided by Intel for affected processors. Since this requires local access and privileged initial access, ensure physical security and limit local privileged accounts. Verify the installed BIOS version matches the patched release.
- 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-2021-0188 — 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-2021-0188 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data