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Alienware M15 R6 FirmwareOperating system · Dell

CVE-2022-34400

HIGH · 7.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-02-01
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.4.3 / 1.8.0 or later.
See remediation →
73/100
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
Dell BIOS contains a heap buffer overflow vulnerability. A local attacker with admin privileges could potentially exploit this vulnerability to perform an arbitrary write to SMRAM during SMM.

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

Dell BIOS contains a heap buffer overflow vulnerability in System Management Mode (SMM) that allows a local attacker with admin privileges to perform arbitrary writes to SMRAM. This is a serious privilege escalation as SMM operates at the highest privilege level on x86 processors, giving the attacker persistent firmware-level control.

MitigationApply the Dell BIOS firmware update provided by Dell for affected systems. Verify the update is successfully applied and confirm the system boots normally.

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
Alienware M15 R6 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.17.0
Alienware M15 R7 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.4.3
Alienware M15 Ryzen Edition R5 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.8.0
Alienware M17 R5 Amd FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.4.3
G15 5510 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.16.0
G15 5511 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.18.0
G15 5515 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.8.0
G15 5525 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.4.3

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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 Dell laptop model
    Run `wmic csproduct get name` or check the system label/sticker to confirm the exact model (e.g., Alienware M15 R6, G15 5510)
    Affected if The model is NOT one of: Alienware M15 R6, M15 R7, M15 Ryzen Edition R5, M17 R5 Amd, G15 5510, G15 5511, G15 5515, or G15 5525 - then you are not affected by this specific CVE
  2. Check the installed BIOS firmware version
    Run `dmidecode -s bios-version` or `wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion` from an admin/root command prompt, or press F2 during boot to enter BIOS setup and view the version
    Affected if The displayed version is LOWER than the threshold for your model: M15 R6 < 1.17.0, M15 R7 < 1.4.3, M15 Ryzen Edition R5 < 1.8.0, M17 R5 Amd < 1.4.3, G15 5510 < 1.16.0, G15 5511 < 1.18.0, G15 5515 < 1.8.0, or G15 5525 < 1.4.3
  3. Verify the vulnerability is exploitable
    Confirm you have local administrative/root access to the system, since the attacker needs admin privileges to trigger the SMM buffer overflow
    Affected if The attacker does not have admin privileges - then the specific exploitation path for this CVE cannot be executed

You are affected if you own one of the listed Dell models AND your BIOS firmware version is below the specified threshold for that model, and an attacker already has admin-level access to the system.

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 1.4.3 / 1.8.0 / 1.16.0 or later
Fixed in 1.4.31.8.01.16.0
Interim mitigation

Apply the Dell BIOS firmware update provided by Dell for affected systems. Verify the update is successfully applied and confirm the system boots normally.

Recommended fix High confidence

BIOS firmware version 1.17.0 (M15 R6), 1.4.3 (M15 R7, M15 R5, M17 R5, G15 5525), 1.16.0 (G15 5510), 1.18.0 (G15 5511), or 1.8.0 (G15 5515) - depending on specific model

  1. Identify the specific Dell laptop model from the affected product list (Alienware M15 R6/R7/R5, Alienware M17 R5, G15 5510/5511/5515/5525)
  2. Navigate to Dell's support website (www.dell.com) and enter the Service Tag or search for the specific model
  3. Locate the BIOS/Firmware section for the device
  4. Download the latest BIOS firmware version that addresses CVE-2022-34400 (version 1.17.0 or later for M15 R6; 1.4.3 or later for M15 R7/R5, M17 R5, G15 5525; 1.16.0 or later for G15 5510; 1.18.0 or later for G15 5511; 1.8.0 or later for G15 5515)
  5. Connect the laptop to AC power to ensure uninterrupted firmware update
  6. Run the BIOS update executable downloaded from Dell support
  7. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the BIOS flash process - do not interrupt the update or power off the device
  8. Allow the system to reboot and verify the BIOS version has been updated to the fixed release
Caveat BIOS updates carry inherent risk of bricking the system if interrupted or power loss occurs during flash; ensure stable power and do not interrupt the update process

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

Fix this in Alienware M15 R6 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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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-2022-34400 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