CVE-2023-28402
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 · uneditedImproper input validation in some Intel(R) BIOS Guard firmware may allow a privileged user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access.
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 confidenceThis vulnerability in Intel BIOS Guard firmware involves improper input validation that could allow a privileged user (already having administrative access) to further escalate their privileges through local access. BIOS Guard is a hardware-based technology that validates BIOS firmware updates before flashing, and the validation flaw could be exploited to bypass security controls.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
- High
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
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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Verify Intel BIOS Guard is presentCheck system firmware/UEFI settings or use tools like 'dmidecode' (if available with appropriate privileges) to query BIOS information for BIOS Guard module presenceAffected if Intel BIOS Guard hardware/firmware is not listed in system BIOS information, the system is likely not affected by this specific BIOS Guard vulnerability
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Determine BIOS Guard firmware versionAccess the Intel BIOS Guard firmware version through UEFI setup utility under 'BIOS Guard' or 'Intel BIOS Guard' section, or use Intel-specific firmware version tools if available with admin privilegesAffected if The installed BIOS Guard firmware version cannot be determined or is earlier than versions that include the security fix
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Check if BIOS Guard update mechanism is enabledIn UEFI/BIOS settings, navigate to BIOS Guard configuration and verify whether the update validation feature is enabled. This is typically found under Security or BIOS Update settingsAffected if BIOS Guard update functionality is enabled and the firmware version is unpatched, creating the condition for the validation bypass to be exploitable
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Assess local privileged access contextVerify current user privileges using 'whoami /all' on Windows or 'id' command on Linux to determine if the user has administrative or root privilegesAffected if The user already possesses privileged (administrator/root) access, which is a prerequisite for exploiting this privilege escalation flaw
A user is affected if their system contains Intel BIOS Guard firmware and they already hold privileged local access with an unpatched BIOS Guard firmware version.
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 dataApply the Intel BIOS Guard firmware update provided by Intel through the standard BIOS/UEFI update process, typically available via OEM firmware updates or Intel's own firmware distribution channels.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-28402 — 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-2023-28402 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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- 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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