CVE-2021-26383
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 bounds checking in AMD TEE (Trusted Execution Environment) could allow an attacker with a compromised userspace to invoke a command with malformed arguments leading to out of bounds memory access, potentially resulting in loss of integrity or availability.
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 confidenceInsufficient bounds checking in AMD TEE (Trusted Execution Environment) allows a compromised userspace application to invoke TEE commands with malformed arguments, triggering out-of-bounds memory access. This can lead to integrity or availability compromise within the trusted execution environment.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/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 AMD hardware with TEE capabilityCheck system for AMD processors or AMD GPUs that support TEE. Run 'lspci | grep -i amd' or check system information. Look for AMD Platform Security Processor (PSP), AMD Secure Processor, or AMD SEV (Secure Encrypted Virtualization) mentions in hardware specs.Affected if System contains AMD processor or GPU that supports Trusted Execution Environment features and the TEE component is present in the firmware
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Check AMD PSP/Secure Processor firmware versionRetrieve the AMD Platform Security Processor firmware version. On Linux, this may be available via 'cat /sys/class/dmi/id/bios_version' or through vendor-specific tools like 'amd-psp-secure' or 'cpuid' command. Check AMD advisory for affected firmware version ranges.Affected if The PSP/Secure Processor firmware version falls within any vulnerable version range identified by AMD for this CVE
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Verify TEE functionality is enabledCheck if AMD TEE/Trusted Execution Environment is actively enabled on the system. This can be verified through system configuration, BIOS settings (look for 'Secure Execution', 'TEE', 'PSP' settings), or by checking if applications are actively using TEE services (check for TEE-related daemons, drivers, or running processes).Affected if AMD TEE is enabled and actively running on the system, allowing userspace applications to invoke TEE commands
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Check for compromised userspace accessReview system audit logs and security monitoring for any suspicious userspace applications attempting to invoke TEE commands with malformed arguments. Check for unusual patterns in TEE command invocations if such logging is available.Affected if A compromised or malicious userspace application has the ability to invoke TEE commands on the system
The system is affected if it contains AMD hardware with TEE capability, has a vulnerable PSP/Secure Processor firmware version, and has TEE functionality enabled, allowing potentially compromised userspace applications to exploit the bounds checking flaw.
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 AMD-provided firmware updates for the TEE component once released. Identify and inventory systems utilizing AMD TEE functionality to prioritize patching.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,888.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-26383 — 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-2021-26383 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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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.
- 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