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Improper Input ValidationWeakness · CWE-20

CVE-2023-43758

HIGH · 8.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-02-12
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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 input validation in UEFI firmware for some Intel(R) processors 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 confidence

Improper input validation in UEFI firmware for certain Intel processors allows a privileged local user to escalate their privileges. This is a firmware-level vulnerability requiring local access.

MitigationApply Intel-provided UEFI firmware updates to affected processors; verify successful installation and ensure firmware integrity mechanisms are enabled.

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
Low
Privileges
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the Intel processor model
    Run 'dmidecode -s processor-version' on Linux, 'wmic cpu get name' on Windows, or check system information to obtain the exact CPU model number
    Affected if The CPU model matches an Intel processor generation listed in Intel's security advisory for this CVE (check Intel.com for affected CPU listings)
  2. Check the current UEFI/BIOS version
    Run 'dmidecode -s bios-version' on Linux, 'wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion' on Windows, or access the UEFI/BIOS setup screen to view the firmware version
    Affected if The installed BIOS/UEFI version is older than the version Intel has listed as fixed for your specific processor model
  3. Verify UEFI firmware is present
    Confirm the system uses UEFI boot rather than legacy BIOS by checking for /sys/firmware/efi on Linux or via 'msinfo32' on Windows
    Affected if UEFI mode is enabled; this vulnerability affects UEFI firmware specifically
  4. Confirm local privileged access
    Verify the user account in question has elevated privileges (administrator/root or equivalent) on the local system
    Affected if The attacker already has privileged local access, which is required to exploit this vulnerability

You are affected if your system uses an affected Intel processor model with a UEFI BIOS version older than Intel's fixed version for that CPU, and an unpatched UEFI firmware is installed.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Intel-provided UEFI firmware updates to affected processors; verify successful installation and ensure firmware integrity mechanisms are enabled.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,900
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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-2023-43758 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