dbcve.org
Chengming 3990 FirmwareOperating system · Dell

CVE-2021-36283

MEDIUM · 6.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-09-28
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.1.0 / 1.3.1 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
Dell BIOS contains an improper input validation vulnerability. A local authenticated malicious user may potentially exploit this vulnerability by using an SMI to gain arbitrary code execution in SMRAM.

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
Chengming 3990 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.3.1
Chengming 3991 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.3.1
G3 15 3500 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.7.1
G3 15 3590 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.12.0
G3 15 5500 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.7.1
Inspiron 3493 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.12.0
Inspiron 3501 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.1.0
Inspiron 3593 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.12.0

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 1.1.0 / 1.3.1 / 1.7.1 or later
Fixed in 1.1.01.3.11.7.1
Vendor patch www.dell.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

Firmware update to version 1.3.1 (Chengming 3990/3991), 1.7.1 (G3 15 3500/5500), 1.12.0 (G3 15 3590, Inspiron 3493/3593), or 1.1.0 (Inspiron 3501) as applicable to your model

  1. 1. Identify the exact system model by running 'systeminfo' or checking the Dell support site for your specific service tag
  2. 2. Download the BIOS firmware update from Dell's support website for your specific model, ensuring the version matches or exceeds the fixed version for your system
  3. 3. Verify the downloaded update file matches the correct version (Chengming 3990/3991: 1.3.1, G3 15 3500/5500: 1.7.1, G3 15 3590: 1.12.0, Inspiron 3493/3593: 1.12.0, Inspiron 3501: 1.1.0)
  4. 4. Connect the system to AC power and ensure the battery is sufficiently charged (>30%) to prevent interruption during the update
  5. 5. Run the Dell BIOS update executable or use the Dell Update Package (DUP) with administrator privileges
  6. 6. Allow the system to reboot and complete the BIOS flash process - do not interrupt this process
  7. 7. After the update completes, verify the installed BIOS version matches the expected fixed version via 'systeminfo' or BIOS setup (F2 on boot)
Caveat Firmware updates carry a small risk of system incompatibility; ensure you have a backup and stable power during the flash process

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

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-36283 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2021-36283 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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