CVE-2023-39538
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 · uneditedAMI AptioV contains a vulnerability in BIOS where a User may cause an unrestricted upload of a BMP Logo file with dangerous type by Local access. A successful exploit of this vulnerability may lead to a loss of Confidentiality, Integrity, and/or Availability.
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 confidenceAMI AptioV BIOS contains an unrestricted upload vulnerability allowing a local user to upload a BMP logo file without proper validation. The 'dangerous type' indicates the file could potentially contain malicious payloads or be used to bypass security controls, leading to potential compromise of BIOS integrity and potentially enabling persistence or privilege escalation.
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 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 BIOS vendor and firmware versionRun 'dmidecode -s bios-version' or 'dmidecode -t bios' to retrieve BIOS version information. On Windows, use 'wmic bios get version' or check System Information (msinfo32).Affected if The BIOS vendor is American Megatrends (AMI) with AptioV firmware and the version matches all versions (no patch applied).
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Confirm system uses AMI AptioV BIOSCheck BIOS vendor string via 'dmidecode -s bios-vendor' or 'dmidecode | grep -A5 BIOS' to verify the product is Ami Aptio V.Affected if The BIOS is confirmed as AMI AptioV (American Megatrends Aptio V).
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Verify BIOS is accessible for local configurationThis vulnerability requires local physical access to the system to enter BIOS setup (typically via DEL, F2, or F12 during boot). Check if the system allows entering BIOS configuration on startup.Affected if The system permits local BIOS configuration access - the vulnerability is exploitable if an attacker can reach the BIOS setup utility.
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Check for custom logo upload capability in BIOSEnter BIOS setup (reboot and press the appropriate key during POST) and navigate to the Boot or Logo settings section. Look for options related to 'Boot Logo', 'Splash Screen', or 'Full Screen Logo' that allow importing a BMP file.Affected if The BIOS provides a logo upload or file import feature for BMP images - the unrestricted upload vulnerability exists in this feature.
A system is affected if it runs AMI AptioV BIOS (all versions) and has the BMP logo upload feature accessible in BIOS setup, allowing a local attacker with physical access to upload an arbitrary file.
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 AMI to address the unrestricted file upload vulnerability. Restrict physical and local access to systems until the patch is applied, as this is a local-attack vector vulnerability.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-39538 — 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-2023-39538 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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