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Thinkpad X380 Yoga FirmwareOperating system · Lenovo

CVE-2021-3599

MEDIUM · 6.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-11-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2020-10-31 / 2021-10-25 or later.
See remediation →
69/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

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 · unedited
A potential vulnerability in the SMI callback function used to access flash device in some ThinkPad models may allow an attacker with local access and elevated privileges to execute arbitrary code.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-20

The application accepts input without confirming it is well-formed or within expected bounds, so malformed data can push the program into states its author never anticipated. Attackers probe these gaps to trigger crashes, bypass logic, or feed tainted values into more dangerous operations downstream. Remediating it well means validating and normalising every input at the boundary against a strict allow-list — not merely filtering known-bad values.

General guidance for the improper input validation class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
Thinkpad X380 Yoga FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 2020-10-31
Thinkpad X1 Fold Gen 1 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 2021-10-29
Thinkpad Yoga 260 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 2021-10-25
Thinkpad Yoga 11e 3rd Gen FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 2021-10-31
Thinkpad Yoga 15 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< n19et66w
Thinkpad Yoga 370 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 2021-10-31
Thinkpad X12 Detachable Gen 1 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 2021-10-31
Thinkpad X390 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< n2jet96w

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
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2020-10-31 / 2021-10-25 / 2021-10-29 or later
Fixed in 2020-10-312021-10-252021-10-29
Vendor patch support.lenovo.com →
Recommended fix Moderate confidence

BIOS/firmware version meeting or exceeding: 2020-10-31 (X380 Yoga), 2021-10-29 (X1 Fold Gen 1), 2021-10-25 (Yoga 260), 2021-10-31 (Yoga 11e 3rd Gen/Yoga 370/X12 Detachable Gen 1), n19et66w (Yoga 15), n2jet96w (X390)

  1. 1. Identify the exact ThinkPad model from the affected list (X380 Yoga, X1 Fold Gen 1, Yoga 260, Yoga 11e 3rd Gen, Yoga 15, Yoga 370, X12 Detachable Gen 1, or X390)
  2. 2. Visit the Lenovo support page at https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/product_security/LEN-67440 to obtain the specific firmware update
  3. 3. Download the appropriate BIOS/firmware update for your ThinkPad model
  4. 4. Review the update release date to confirm it meets or exceeds the minimum fixed version (2020-10-31 for X380 Yoga, 2021-10-29 for X1 Fold Gen 1, 2021-10-25 for Yoga 260, 2021-10-31 for Yoga 11e 3rd Gen/Yoga 370/X12 Detachable Gen 1, n19et66w for Yoga 15, n2jet96w for X390)
  5. 5. Follow Lenovo's standard BIOS/firmware update process, which typically requires running the update utility from Windows or creating a bootable USB recovery drive
  6. 6. Ensure the system is connected to power during the firmware update process to prevent brickation
  7. 7. After the update completes, verify the new firmware version matches the fixed release
Caveat Firmware updates carry a risk of system failure if interrupted; ensure stable power and follow update instructions precisely

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,600. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-3599 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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