CVE-2021-0189
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 · uneditedUse of out-of-range pointer offset 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 confidenceA use of out-of-range pointer offset vulnerability exists in the BIOS firmware of certain Intel processors. This memory corruption issue in the firmware may allow a local, already privileged user to escalate their privileges to a higher 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
- 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 the CPU modelRun 'dmidecode -s processor-version' or 'lshw -class processor' to get the exact CPU model nameAffected if The CPU model is one of: Xeon E3-1558L V5, Xeon E3-1565L V5, Xeon E3-1578L V5, Xeon E3-1585 V5, Xeon E3-1585L V5, Xeon E3-1515M V5, Xeon E3-1545M V5, or Xeon E3-1575M V5
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Check the BIOS firmware versionRun 'dmidecode -s bios-version' to retrieve the current BIOS firmware version installed on the systemAffected if The system uses one of the affected CPU models regardless of BIOS version, as all versions are listed as affected
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Verify system manufacturer and modelRun 'dmidecode -s system-manufacturer' and 'dmidecode -s system-product-name' to confirm the system using the affected Intel Xeon V5 processorAffected if The system contains an affected Intel Xeon E3 V5 processor
If the system is equipped with any of the listed Intel Xeon E3 V5 processor models, the BIOS firmware is vulnerable regardless of the current version installed.
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. Organizations should identify vulnerable hardware, test the update in a controlled environment, and deploy across affected systems following change management procedures.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing8.0 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 $10,240.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-0189 — 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-2021-0189 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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