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Ampere Altra FirmwareOperating system · Amperecomputing

CVE-2022-32295

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-07-01
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.09 or later.
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
On Ampere Altra and AltraMax devices before SRP 1.09, the Altra reference design of UEFI accesses allows insecure access to SPI-NOR by the OS/hypervisor component.

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

The UEFI firmware on Ampere Altra and AltraMax processors before SRP 1.09 contains a design flaw that permits the OS or hypervisor to access SPI-NOR flash memory without proper access controls. This insecure access path could allow a compromised OS/hypervisor to modify firmware stored in SPI-NOR, potentially enabling persistent bootkits, firmware rootkits, or complete system compromise.

MitigationUpdate Ampere Altra/AltraMax devices to SRP 1.09 or later which contains corrected UEFI access controls for SPI-NOR. Additionally, review UEFI/BIOS configurations to ensure SPI-NOR write protections are enabled and verify firmware integrity using secure boot mechanisms.

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
Ampere Altra FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.09
Ampere Altra Max FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.09

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 system hardware model
    Run 'dmidecode -s system-product-name' or check /sys/class/dmi/id/product_name to confirm the system is an Ampere Altra or AltraMax server
    Affected if The system is an Ampere Altra or AltraMax processor-based server
  2. Retrieve UEFI firmware version
    Run 'dmidecode -s bios-version' or check the BMC/IPMI interface for firmware version information
    Affected if The firmware version displayed is a numeric value that can be compared against the affected range
  3. Compare version against affected range
    Compare the installed firmware version to the affected range (versions below 1.09 are vulnerable)
    Affected if The installed firmware version is less than 1.09 (for example, 1.08, 1.07, etc.)
  4. Check SPI-NOR access controls
    Inspect UEFI/BIOS settings via the system setup utility or BMC to verify if SPI-NOR write protection or access control mechanisms are configured
    Affected if SPI-NOR write protections are disabled or improperly configured (this indicates the vulnerability may be exploitable regardless of version)

A system is affected if it is an Ampere Altra or AltraMax with UEFI firmware version below 1.09, or if SPI-NOR access controls are found to be disabled in the UEFI configuration.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.09 or later
Fixed in 1.09
Interim mitigation

Update Ampere Altra/AltraMax devices to SRP 1.09 or later which contains corrected UEFI access controls for SPI-NOR. Additionally, review UEFI/BIOS configurations to ensure SPI-NOR write protections are enabled and verify firmware integrity using secure boot mechanisms.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

SRP 1.09

  1. Obtain the SRP 1.09 firmware update from the Ampere Computing support portal at amperecomputing.com
  2. Verify the current firmware version on the affected Ampere Altra or Altra Max device
  3. Apply the SRP 1.09 firmware update following Ampere's standard firmware update procedure for the platform
  4. After updating, verify that the firmware has been successfully applied and the device boots normally

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

Fix this in Ampere Altra Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,088.

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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-2022-32295 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