CVE-2023-34853
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 · uneditedBuffer Overflow vulnerability in Supermicro motherboard X12DPG-QR 1.4b allows local attackers to hijack control flow via manipulation of SmcSecurityEraseSetupVar 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 confidenceBuffer overflow in Supermicro motherboard X12DPG-QR version 1.4b in the SmcSecurityEraseSetupVar BIOS variable allows local attackers to overwrite memory and hijack control flow, potentially achieving code execution with elevated privileges.
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 dataall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsCVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 your Supermicro motherboard modelCheck the physical motherboard label, BIOS boot screen, or use IPMI/dracut to retrieve the model number (e.g., dmidecode, IPMI web interface, or supermicro's SUM utility)Affected if The motherboard model matches any of: X12dai N6, X12ddw A6, X12dgo 6, X12dgq R, X12dgu, X12dhm 6, X12dpd A6m25, X12dpfr An6, or X12DPG-QR
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Check the installed BIOS firmware versionAccess BIOS setup during boot, use IPMI web interface (Firmware Inventory), or run 'ipmitool fru' or 'dmidecode -s bios-version' to retrieve the firmware versionAffected if The firmware version is any version (the advisory states all versions are affected)
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Verify the SmcSecurityEraseSetupVar BIOS variable existsThis requires access to the BIOS/UEFI firmware binary or runtime variable access. Use tools like UEFItool to inspect the BIOS image, or on a running system check for the variable via 'fwts smc' or similar UEFI variable enumeration tools if availableAffected if The SmcSecurityEraseSetupVar variable is present in the UEFI variable store (this is the vulnerable component)
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Confirm local attacker access perspectiveDetermine if unprivileged local access to the system is possible (physical access, serial console, or IPMI KVM). The vulnerability requires local attacker interaction with the BIOS variable interfaceAffected if The system allows local non-privileged access to interfaces that can trigger the SmcSecurityEraseSetupVar function (such as BIOS setup, IPMI, or vendor-specific utilities)
If your Supermicro motherboard model matches any of the affected X12 series models listed, you are affected because all firmware versions contain the vulnerable SmcSecurityEraseSetupVar BIOS variable that can be triggered by a local attacker.
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 vendor-supplied BIOS firmware update from Supermicro for the X12DPG-QR motherboard. Prior to update, ensure backup and rollback procedures are in place; after update, verify system stability and that the vulnerability is no longer exploitable.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-34853 — 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-2023-34853 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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