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Ryzen 9 3900 FirmwareOperating system · Amd

CVE-2022-23821

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
Improper access control in System Management Mode (SMM) may allow an attacker to write to SPI ROM 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 · high confidence

This is an improper access control vulnerability in System Management Mode (SMM), a highly privileged x86 CPU mode that operates below the OS and hypervisor. The flaw allows an attacker with SMM access to write to SPI ROM, which stores BIOS/UEFI firmware, potentially enabling persistent firmware-level malware or arbitrary code execution with the highest system privileges.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied BIOS/UEFI firmware updates to address the SMM access control flaw. In enterprise environments, use trusted boot mechanisms and verify SPI descriptor settings to restrict SMM write access to ROM.

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. Identify your AMD Ryzen CPU model
    Use system information tools (such as CPU-Z on Windows, 'lscpu' on Linux, or check BIOS/UEFI setup) to determine the exact processor model number
    Affected if The CPU model is one of: Ryzen 9 3900, 3900x, 3900xt, 3950x, Ryzen 7 3700x, 3800x, 3800xt, or Ryzen 5 3500
  2. Check BIOS/UEFI firmware version
    Enter BIOS/UEFI setup during boot, or use tools like 'dmidecode -s bios-version' on Linux, 'wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion' on Windows, or the motherboard manufacturer's utility to retrieve the BIOS firmware version
    Affected if The firmware version equals 'comboam4_pi_1.0.0.9' or 'comboam4_v2_pi_1.2.0.8' (exact match required)
  3. Verify SMM write access configuration
    Inspect SPI descriptor settings or use vendor-provided tools (such as Intel or AMD firmware tools) to check whether SMM write access to SPI ROM is enabled or restricted. This typically requires accessing the SPI flash descriptor region via specialized firmware analysis tools or the motherboard's BIOS setup if such options exist.
    Affected if SMM is permitted write access to the SPI ROM region containing BIOS/UEFI firmware (this is the vulnerable configuration)

You are affected if your system uses an affected AMD Ryzen CPU model (3900, 3900x, 3900xt, 3950x, 3700x, 3800x, 3800xt, or 3500) AND runs BIOS/UEFI firmware version comboam4_pi_1.0.0.9 or comboam4_v2_pi_1.2.0.8, with SMM write access enabled to SPI ROM.

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 vendor-supplied BIOS/UEFI firmware updates to address the SMM access control flaw. In enterprise environments, use trusted boot mechanisms and verify SPI descriptor settings to restrict SMM write access to ROM.

Fix this in Ryzen 9 3900 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation24.0 h
  • Testing16.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
56.0 hours of engineering $9,760
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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-2022-23821 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