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Ryzen 9 3900 FirmwareOperating system · Amd

CVE-2022-23820

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-11-14
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
Failure to validate the AMD SMM communication buffer may allow an attacker to corrupt the SMRAM potentially leading to arbitrary code execution.

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

This is a firmware-level vulnerability in AMD processors where the System Management Mode (SMM) communication buffer is not properly validated before use. This allows an attacker to corrupt the SMRAM (System Management RAM), which operates at the highest privilege level (ring -2), potentially achieving arbitrary code execution with complete system control.

MitigationApply AMD processor firmware/BIOS updates as released through OEM vendors; this is a hardware-level vulnerability requiring vendor-supplied firmware patches rather than software remediation.

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
Ryzen 9 3900 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:= comboam4_pi_1.0.0.9= comboam4_v2_pi_1.2.0.8
Ryzen 9 3900x FirmwareOperating system
Affected:= comboam4_pi_1.0.0.9= comboam4_v2_pi_1.2.0.8
Ryzen 9 3900xt FirmwareOperating system
Affected:= comboam4_pi_1.0.0.9= comboam4_v2_pi_1.2.0.8
Ryzen 9 3950x FirmwareOperating system
Affected:= comboam4_pi_1.0.0.9= comboam4_v2_pi_1.2.0.8
Ryzen 7 3700x FirmwareOperating system
Affected:= comboam4_pi_1.0.0.9= comboam4_v2_pi_1.2.0.8
Ryzen 7 3800x FirmwareOperating system
Affected:= comboam4_pi_1.0.0.9= comboam4_v2_pi_1.2.0.8
Ryzen 7 3800xt FirmwareOperating system
Affected:= comboam4_pi_1.0.0.9= comboam4_v2_pi_1.2.0.8
Ryzen 5 3500 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:= comboam4_pi_1.0.0.9= comboam4_v2_pi_1.2.0.8

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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. Retrieve BIOS/UEFI firmware version
    On Linux, run 'dmidecode -s bios-version' or check /sys/class/dmi/id/bios_version. On Windows, run 'wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion'. On macOS, run 'system_profiler SPHardwareDataType' and look for 'BIOS Version'.
    Affected if The reported BIOS version contains the firmware identifiers comboam4_pi_1.0.0.9 or comboam4_v2_pi_1.2.0.8 exactly as listed in the affected versions.
  2. Identify AMD AGESA firmware component
    Use tools like 'cat /proc/cpuinfo' on Linux and search for 'AGESA' or 'comboam4' strings. On Windows, use CPU-Z or HWiNFO to extract detailed firmware information. AMD Ryzen Master utility may also display AGESA version.
    Affected if The detected AGESA or comboam4 firmware version matches exactly comboam4_pi_1.0.0.9 or comboam4_v2_pi_1.2.0.8.
  3. Verify processor model
    Run 'lscpu' on Linux, 'wmic cpu get name' on Windows, or check system documentation to confirm the exact AMD Ryzen processor model.
    Affected if The processor is an AMD Ryzen 9 3900, 3900x, 3900xt, 3950x, Ryzen 7 3700x, 3800x, 3800xt, or Ryzen 5 3500.

A system is affected if it uses an AMD Ryzen processor from the listed models AND the BIOS/AGESA firmware version equals exactly comboam4_pi_1.0.0.9 or comboam4_v2_pi_1.2.0.8.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply AMD processor firmware/BIOS updates as released through OEM vendors; this is a hardware-level vulnerability requiring vendor-supplied firmware patches rather than software remediation.

Fix this in Ryzen 9 3900 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,380
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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-2022-23820 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