CVE-2022-21233
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 · uneditedImproper isolation of shared resources in some Intel(R) Processors may allow a privileged user to potentially enable information disclosure via local access.
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 confidenceCVE-2022-21233 is a processor-level vulnerability in certain Intel CPUs stemming from improper isolation of shared resources. This flaw allows a privileged local user to potentially expose sensitive information through the misuse of shared microarchitectural resources, likely related to speculative execution or cache timing side channels.
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 dataall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsCVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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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Identify your processor modelRun 'wmic cpu get name' on Windows, 'lscpu' on Linux, or check system information in BIOS/UEFI. Look for the exact CPU name string.Affected if The processor model matches any of these: Intel Pentium J4205, Intel Pentium N4200, Intel Pentium N4200e, Intel Celeron J3455, Intel Celeron J3355, Intel Celeron J3455e, Intel Celeron J3355e, or Intel Celeron N3450
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Check BIOS or UEFI firmware versionAccess BIOS/UEFI setup during boot, or use 'dmidecode -s bios-version' on Linux, 'wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion' on Windows, or check your system vendor's firmware update utility.Affected if The firmware version is older than the latest Intel-provided BIOS/UEFI update for your specific processor model
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Check processor microcode versionOn Linux, run 'dmesg | grep -i microcode' or read from '/proc/cpuinfo' microcode field. On Windows, use 'wmic cpu get revision' or check Intel Processor Identification Utility.Affected if The loaded microcode version is older than the patched microcode version Intel has released for your CPU, or microcode is at initial factory revision
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Verify hyper-threading and cache configurationOn Linux, check hyper-threading status via 'lscpu' and review /sys/devices/system/cpu for cache partitioning settings. In Windows, check 'msconfig' or use 'wmic computersystem' for thread count.Affected if Hyper-threading is enabled on an affected processor (though this is a hardening measure, not a definitive indicator of vulnerability presence)
You are likely affected if your system uses any of the listed Intel Pentium or Celeron processor models and the BIOS/UEFI firmware or CPU microcode has not been updated to the Intel-patched version.
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.
dbcve · scopedApply Intel processor microcode updates and BIOS/UEFI firmware updates provided by Intel and system OEMs. Verify that affected processor families are patched; consider disabling hyper-threading or implementing CPU cache partitioning as additional hardening if recommended by Intel.
Contact OEM for Apollo Lake firmware update containing Intel microcode fix (Intel typically publishes microcode updates through OEM BIOS updates)
- Check the Intel processor firmware/microcode version currently installed on the system
- Contact the system OEM (original equipment manufacturer) for the latest BIOS/firmware update that includes the Intel microcode fix for CVE-2022-21233
- Apply the OEM-provided BIOS/firmware update following the manufacturer's recommended procedure
- Verify the microcode has been updated by checking the firmware version or using system information tools
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-21233 — 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-2022-21233 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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- 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