CVE-2024-24981
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 · uneditedImproper input validation in PfrSmiUpdateFw driver in UEFI firmware for some Intel(R) Server M50FCP Family products may allow a privileged user to 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 · high confidenceImproper input validation in the PfrSmiUpdateFw driver in UEFI firmware for Intel Server M50FCP Family products allows a privileged local user to escalate privileges. The driver fails to properly validate input before processing, enabling a local attacker with existing privileged access to gain higher-level privileges.
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
- High
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the server modelRun 'dmidecode -s system-product-name' or check the physical server label to confirm it is an Intel Server M50FCP Family systemAffected if The system is an Intel M50FCP Family server - other Intel server families are not affected by this specific vulnerability in the PfrSmiUpdateFw driver
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Check UEFI firmware versionAccess the UEFI BIOS setup utility (typically via F2 during POST) and navigate to the 'BIOS Version' or 'Firmware Version' information page, or use 'dmidecode -s bios-version' if availableAffected if The installed UEFI firmware version falls within the affected but unpatched version range - compare your version to Intel's published fixed versions for M50FCP
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Verify PfrSmiUpdateFw driver presenceIn the UEFI shell or BIOS setup, look for the PfrSmiUpdateFw driver under 'Driver Configuration' or 'UEFI Drivers' menus, or check the UEFI firmware image for this driver moduleAffected if The PfrSmiUpdateFw driver is present and enabled in the UEFI firmware - this driver is the vulnerable component
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Confirm local privileged access contextReview existing system administration accounts and verify if any untrusted local users have existing privileged (administrator/root) accessAffected if Untrusted local users already have privileged access - the vulnerability requires an attacker to already have privileged local access to escalate further
You are affected if you are running an unpatched UEFI firmware version on an Intel Server M50FCP Family system with the PfrSmiUpdateFw driver enabled, and untrusted local users have existing privileged access that could be escalated.
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 dataUpdate the UEFI firmware to the latest version provided by Intel that addresses this vulnerability. Firmware updates require scheduling maintenance windows and following Intel's update procedures for the M50FCP server platform.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-24981 — 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-2024-24981 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
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