CVE-2023-6215
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 · uneditedA potential security vulnerability has been identified in HP Sure Start’s protection of the Intel Flash Descriptor in certain HP PC products, which might allow security bypass, arbitrary code execution, loss of integrity or confidentiality, or denial of service. HP is releasing BIOS updates to mitigate the potential vulnerability.
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 exists in HP Sure Start's protection mechanism for the Intel Flash Descriptor, which is a critical firmware component that defines how the BIOS/UEFI accesses memory and I/O regions. A successful exploit could bypass HP Sure Start security controls, potentially allowing arbitrary code execution at firmware level with the highest privileges, or causing loss of integrity/confidentiality of system firmware.
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
- Physical
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- Authentication
- X
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- X
CVSS:4.0/AV:P/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
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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Confirm HP Sure Start is present on the systemCheck system information via HP Support Assistant, HP BIOS setup (F10 during boot), or run 'wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion' to identify if HP Sure Start is listed in BIOS detailsAffected if HP Sure Start is not listed or not detectable in system information - the vulnerability only applies to systems with HP Sure Start technology
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Determine the installed HP Sure Start versionAccess HP BIOS/UEFI settings (press F10 at startup) and navigate to the HP Sure Start or Security menu to view the HP Sure Start version numberAffected if Unable to locate HP Sure Start version in BIOS settings indicates the feature may not be present or accessible
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Verify Intel Flash Descriptor protection statusIn HP BIOS setup (F10), locate HP Sure Start settings and check if Flash Descriptor protection is enabled or if the Intel Flash Descriptor is listed as protectedAffected if The protection status is disabled, not present in the menu, or shows an error - the system may lack this specific protection layer
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Compare your HP Sure Start version to known fixed versionsReference HP's security bulletins for CVE-2023-6215 to obtain the specific version numbers that contain the fix for your product modelAffected if Your installed version predates the version HP lists as containing the fix for this vulnerability
A system is affected if it has HP Sure Start with Intel Flash Descriptor protection enabled and the installed version is older than HP's fixed version for this CVE.
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 HP BIOS updates as they are released for affected products. HP Sure Start Gen6 and later versions include automatic recovery features that should be verified post-update.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-6215 — 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-2023-6215 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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