CVE-2023-25937
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 · uneditedDell BIOS contains an improper input validation vulnerability. A local authenticated malicious user with administrator privileges may potentially exploit this vulnerability in order to modify a UEFI variable.
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 confidenceDell BIOS contains an improper input validation vulnerability that allows a local authenticated user with administrator privileges to modify a UEFI variable. UEFI variables control critical firmware-level settings including boot configuration and security policies, making this a privilege escalation and potential persistence mechanism.
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< 1.26.0< 1.22.0< 1.0.20< 1.1.20< 1.12.0< 1.1.0< 1.22.0< 1.23.0CVSS 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
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the exact Dell/Alienware system modelCheck the system model number via 'systeminfo' (Windows), 'dmidecode -s system-product-name' (Linux), or physically on the system chassisAffected if The model is one of the affected products: Alienware Area 51m R1/R2, Aurora R11/R12/R13/R15, M15 R2, or M15 R3
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Retrieve the current BIOS firmware versionRun 'wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion' from Windows command prompt, or 'dmidecode -s bios-version' from Linux terminalAffected if The reported version is below the threshold for your specific model (Area 51m R1: <1.26.0, Area 51m R2: <1.22.0, Aurora R11: <1.0.20, Aurora R12: <1.1.20, Aurora R13: <1.12.0, Aurora R15: <1.1.0, M15 R2: <1.22.0, M15 R3: <1.23.0)
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Confirm administrator privileges exist on the systemCheck current user membership in the Administrators group via 'net localgroup Administrators' (Windows) or 'id' command (Linux)Affected if The user has administrator/root access, as the vulnerability requires an authenticated local user with administrator privileges to exploit
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Verify UEFI variable write access is possibleOn Windows, attempt to read/write a test UEFI variable using 'reg query' commands under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Variable\Enum or consult Dell documentation on UEFI variable configurationAffected if The system allows modification of UEFI variables through available Dell configuration tools, as the vulnerability permits improper input validation during UEFI variable modification
Your system is affected if it is an Alienware model from the list and runs a BIOS firmware version lower than the specified threshold for that model.
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.
From vendor data1.0.201.1.01.1.20
Apply the Dell BIOS firmware update for affected systems. This is typically done via Dell's BIOS update utilities or through enterprise deployment tools like Dell Command | Configure or SCCM/Intune.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-25937 — 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-2023-25937 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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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.
- 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
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