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Securecore TechnologyOperating system · Phoenixtech

CVE-2023-31100

HIGH · 7.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-11-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.3.0.203 / 4.3.1.163 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
Improper Access Control in SMI handler vulnerability in Phoenix SecureCore™ Technology™ 4 allows SPI flash modification. This issue affects SecureCore™ Technology™ 4: * from 4.3.0.0 before 4.3.0.203 * from 4.3.1.0 before 4.3.1.163 * from 4.4.0.0 before 4.4.0.217 * from 4.5.0.0 before 4.5.0.138

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

Improper access control in the System Management Interrupt (SMI) handler of Phoenix SecureCore Technology 4 UEFI firmware allows modification of SPI flash memory. The SMI handler runs at the highest privilege level (SMM), so this vulnerability could allow an attacker with privileged code execution to persist malicious firmware modifications.

MitigationUpdate Phoenix SecureCore Technology 4 to version 4.3.0.203, 4.3.1.163, 4.4.0.217, or 4.5.0.138 or later, depending on the current installed version branch.

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
Securecore TechnologyOperating system
Affected:>= 4.3.0.0, < 4.3.0.203>= 4.3.1.0, < 4.3.1.163>= 4.4.0.0, < 4.4.0.217>= 4.5.0.0, < 4.5.0.138

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 the installed Phoenix SecureCore Technology 4 firmware version
    Access the UEFI/BIOS setup screen during boot and locate the firmware version information, or use system information tools such as dmidecode -s bios-version on Linux, wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion on Windows, or vendor-specific diagnostic tools
    Affected if The reported version falls within any of these ranges: >= 4.3.0.0 and < 4.3.0.203, >= 4.3.1.0 and < 4.3.1.163, >= 4.4.0.0 and < 4.4.0.217, or >= 4.5.0.0 and < 4.5.0.138
  2. Confirm the firmware vendor is Phoenixtech
    Verify through the same BIOS/firmware information that the vendor is Phoenixtech and the product is specifically SecureCore Technology 4
    Affected if The firmware is from Phoenixtech SecureCore Technology 4 but the version is lower than the fixed releases (4.3.0.203, 4.3.1.163, 4.4.0.217, or 4.5.0.138 depending on the branch)
  3. Check if SMM is enabled and accessible
    Review UEFI/BIOS settings for System Management Mode configuration; on affected systems, the SMI handler with improper access controls is active by default when SMM is operational
    Affected if SMM is active and the firmware version is within the vulnerable version ranges listed above

You are affected if your Phoenix SecureCore Technology 4 firmware version is lower than 4.3.0.203, 4.3.1.163, 4.4.0.217, or 4.5.0.138 depending on your version branch.

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 4.3.0.203 / 4.3.1.163 / 4.4.0.217 or later
Fixed in 4.3.0.2034.3.1.1634.4.0.217
Interim mitigation

Update Phoenix SecureCore Technology 4 to version 4.3.0.203, 4.3.1.163, 4.4.0.217, or 4.5.0.138 or later, depending on the current installed version branch.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to SecureCore Technology 4.3.0.203, 4.3.1.163, 4.4.0.217, 4.5.0.138 or later respective to your current major version branch

  1. Obtain the firmware update from the official Phoenix Technologies support portal or your hardware vendor
  2. Verify the firmware image integrity using checksums provided by the vendor
  3. Follow the vendor-specific firmware update procedure, which typically involves: a) Backing up current configuration if supported, b) Initiating firmware update through vendor-provided tool or UEFI capsule update, c) Ensuring uninterrupted power during the update process, d) Verifying successful update by checking the new firmware version
Caveat Firmware updates may require system downtime and could reset some configuration settings; test in non-production environment first

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

Fix this in Securecore Technology Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
44.0 hours of engineering $7,720
Get the upgrade done

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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2023-31100 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