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Ideapad 3 14ada05 FirmwareOperating system · Lenovo

CVE-2021-3971

MEDIUM · 6.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-04-22
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
69/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click

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 by a driver used during older manufacturing processes on some consumer Lenovo Notebook devices that was mistakenly included in the BIOS image could allow an attacker with elevated privileges to modify firmware protection region by modifying an NVRAM variable.

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 confidence

A manufacturing/debugging driver was accidentally left in the BIOS image of certain Lenovo consumer notebooks. An attacker with elevated privileges can modify a specific NVRAM variable to write to normally protected firmware regions, potentially compromising BIOS integrity.

MitigationApply the Lenovo BIOS update that removes the vulnerable manufacturing driver. Organizations should inventory affected Lenovo notebook models and deploy the vendor patch via their standard firmware management processes.

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
Ideapad 3 14ada05 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< e8cn33ww
Ideapad 3 14ada6 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< hbcn21ww
Ideapad 3 14alc6 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< glcn43ww
Ideapad 3 14are05 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< dzcn42ww
Ideapad 3 15ada6 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< hbcn21ww
Ideapad 3 15alc6 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< glcn43ww
Ideapad 3 15are05 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< dzcn42ww
Ideapad 3 15igl05 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< dvcn23ww

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

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the Ideapad 3 model variant
    Check the system model number by running 'wmic computersystem get model' or checking the system BIOS information. Look for the specific model identifier such as 14ada05, 14ada6, 14alc6, 14are05, 15ada6, 15alc6, 15are05, or 15igl05.
    Affected if The model matches one of the affected Ideapad 3 variants listed in the CVE (14ada05, 14ada6, 14alc6, 14are05, 15ada6, 15alc6, 15are05, or 15igl05).
  2. Determine the installed firmware version
    Check the current BIOS/firmware version by running 'wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion' or accessing the BIOS setup utility. The version will be a string like e8cn33ww, hbcn21ww, glcn43ww, dzcn42ww, or dvcn23ww.
    Affected if The installed firmware version is below the safe threshold for your specific model.
  3. Compare against affected version ranges
    Match your model to its version threshold: 14ada05 < e8cn33ww, 14ada6 < hbcn21ww, 14alc6 < glcn43ww, 14are05 < dzcn42ww, 15ada6 < hbcn21ww, 15alc6 < glcn43ww, 15are05 < dzcn42ww, 15igl05 < dvcn23ww.
    Affected if Your installed firmware version is lower than the version threshold for your specific model variant.

You are affected if you own one of the listed Ideapad 3 models and your current BIOS version is below the safe threshold version for that model.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the Lenovo BIOS update that removes the vulnerable manufacturing driver. Organizations should inventory affected Lenovo notebook models and deploy the vendor patch via their standard firmware management processes.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

BIOS firmware version >= e8cn33ww (14ada05), >= hbcn21ww (14ada6/15ada6), >= glcn43ww (14alc6/15alc6), >= dzcn42ww (14are05/15are05), or >= dvcn23ww (15igl05)

  1. Identify the exact model number of your Lenovo Ideapad 3 (e.g., 14ada05, 14ada6, 14alc6, etc.)
  2. Visit Lenovo support website at support.lenovo.com
  3. Enter your specific model number in the search to find driver and BIOS downloads
  4. Locate the BIOS update for your model - the fixed version will be one of: e8cn33ww, hbcn21ww, glcn43ww, dzcn42ww, or dvcn23ww (or higher)
  5. Download the BIOS update file from Lenovo's official support page
  6. Read the update instructions carefully before proceeding
  7. Connect the laptop to AC power (do not rely on battery)
  8. Run the BIOS update utility following Lenovo's documented process
Caveat BIOS updates carry risk of system damage if interrupted; ensure uninterrupted power and follow Lenovo instructions exactly

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

Fix this in Ideapad 3 14ada05 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,800
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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-2021-3971 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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