CVE-2021-28213
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 · uneditedExample EDK2 encrypted private key in the IpSecDxe.efi present potential security risks.
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 confidenceAn example encrypted private key was found embedded in the EDK2 IpSecDxe.efi driver binary. This presents a security risk because example/test keys left in production firmware can be exploited to decrypt IPsec communications, impersonate the system, or bypass authentication mechanisms. The presence of such keys indicates a failure to remove test artifacts before release.
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 data= 201905CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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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Locate the IpSecDxe.efi driverSearch firmware images, UEFI BIOS dumps, or the filesystem for the IpSecDxe.efi binary file. Common paths include UEFI firmware volumes or /boot directories on Linux systems with UEFI boot.Affected if The file is present in the system firmware or installed as part of the UEFI stack
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Determine the EDK2 versionIf version metadata is embedded in the binary or available in system firmware documentation, check if the version equals 201905. On Linux systems, check /sys/firmware/efi or use dmidecode for firmware version info.Affected if The firmware or EDK2 implementation version is exactly 201905
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Inspect binary for embedded private key materialUse strings or hexdump tools on the IpSecDxe.efi file to search for PEM-encoded private key headers (-----BEGIN ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY----- or similar), ASN.1 private key markers, or large base64-encoded blobs that resemble cryptographic keys.Affected if The binary contains any embedded private key or cryptographic key material that appears to be example/test code rather than a site-specific generated key
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Compare binary hash against known affected buildsIf available, compare the SHA256 or MD5 hash of the IpSecDxe.efi binary against known affected builds from the 201905 release of EDK2.Affected if The binary hash matches a known build containing the embedded example key
A system is affected if the IpSecDxe.efi driver is present AND contains embedded example private key material, particularly on systems running EDK2 version 201905.
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 dataRemove the example private key from the IpSecDxe.efi source code, regenerate new cryptographic keys, rebuild the driver with clean binaries, and deploy updated firmware to all affected systems.
- 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-2021-28213 — 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-2021-28213 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