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Poweredge T360 FirmwareOperating system · Dell

CVE-2024-0161

HIGH · 8.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-03-13
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.1.1 / 1.13.2 or later.
See remediation →
86/100
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
Dell PowerEdge Server BIOS and Dell Precision Rack BIOS contain an Improper SMM communication buffer verification vulnerability. A local low privileged attacker could potentially exploit this vulnerability leading to arbitrary writes to SMRAM.

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

Dell PowerEdge Server BIOS and Dell Precision Rack BIOS contain an improper SMM (System Management Mode) communication buffer verification vulnerability. A local low-privileged attacker could exploit this to perform arbitrary writes to SMRAM (System Management RAM), potentially executing code in the highest CPU privilege mode.

MitigationApply Dell-provided BIOS firmware updates for affected PowerEdge and Precision Rack systems. Prioritize systems with physical access by untrusted users, as local access is required for exploitation.

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
Poweredge T360 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.1.1
Poweredge R360 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.1.1
Poweredge R650 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.13.2
Poweredge R750 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.13.2
Poweredge R750xa FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.13.2
Poweredge C6520 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.13.2
Poweredge Mx750c FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.13.2
Poweredge R550 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.13.2

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
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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 your Dell PowerEdge or Precision Rack model
    Check the system label, BIOS boot screen, or run 'dmidecode -s system-product-name' to confirm the exact model number
    Affected if Model is one of: T360, R360, R650, R750, R750xa, C6520, Mx750c, or R550
  2. Retrieve the installed BIOS firmware version
    Access BIOS setup during boot, or use Dell Lifecycle Controller (F10 during boot), or run 'dmidecode -s bios-version' from Linux
    Affected if Unable to retrieve a firmware version for comparison
  3. Compare installed version against affected thresholds
    For T360 and R360: check if version is less than 1.1.1. For R650, R750, R750xa, C6520, Mx750c, R550: check if version is less than 1.13.2
    Affected if Installed firmware version is below 1.1.1 (T360/R360) or below 1.13.2 (other listed models)
  4. Verify SMM communication is accessible
    This is a local privilege vulnerability; confirm whether untrusted local users have physical access or OS-level user privileges on the system
    Affected if Local low-privileged users can interact with the system (exploitation requires local access)

Your system is affected if it is a listed PowerEdge model running BIOS firmware below 1.1.1 (T360/R360) or below 1.13.2 (all other listed models), and untrusted local users have access to the system.

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 1.1.1 / 1.13.2 or later
Fixed in 1.1.11.13.2
Interim mitigation

Apply Dell-provided BIOS firmware updates for affected PowerEdge and Precision Rack systems. Prioritize systems with physical access by untrusted users, as local access is required for exploitation.

Recommended fix High confidence

Firmware version 1.1.1 for PowerEdge T360/R360; Firmware version 1.13.2 for PowerEdge R650, R750, R750xa, C6520, Mx750c, R550

  1. 1. Identify the exact PowerEdge model from the affected list (T360, R360, R650, R750, R750xa, C6520, Mx750c, or R550)
  2. 2. Visit Dell support website (www.dell.com) and navigate to the product support page for your specific PowerEdge server model
  3. 3. Locate the BIOS/firmware update section and download the firmware version 1.1.1 (for T360/R360) or version 1.13.2 (for all other affected models)
  4. 4. Follow Dell's standard BIOS/firmware update procedure, which typically requires: a) Extract the update package, b) Run the update utility from Windows/DOS or via iDRAC remote update, c) Ensure stable power during the update process, d) Allow the server to reboot and complete the firmware flash
Caveat Firmware updates carry inherent risk; ensure stable power and follow Dell update procedures precisely to avoid rendering the server non-functional

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

Fix this in Poweredge T360 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,840
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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-2024-0161 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