Intel BIOS Platform Sample Code Advisory

Summary:

Potential security vulnerabilities in Intel BIOS platform sample code for some Intel® Processors may allow escalation of privilege.** **Intel is releasing BIOS platform sample code updates to mitigate these potential vulnerabilities.

Vulnerability Details:

CVEID: CVE-2020-8764

Description: Improper access control in BIOS firmware for some Intel® Processors may allow a privileged user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access.

CVSS Base Score: 8.2 High

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVEID: CVE-2020-8738

Description: Improper conditions check in Intel BIOS platform sample code for some Intel® Processors before may allow a privileged user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access.

CVSS Base Score: 7.5 High

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVEID: CVE-2020-8740

Description: Out of bounds write in Intel BIOS platform sample code for some Intel® Processors may allow a privileged user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access.

CVSS Base Score: 6.7 Medium

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:L

CVEID: CVE-2020-8739

Description: Use of potentially dangerous function in Intel BIOS platform sample code for some Intel® Processors may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access.

CVSS Base Score: 4.6 Medium

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:L

Affected Products:

2nd Generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors, Intel® Core™ X-series Processors, Intel® Xeon® Processor W Family and Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors

• CVE-2020-8738
• CVE-2020-8739
• CVE-2020-8740
• CVE-2020-8764

Intel® Xeon® Processor D Family, Intel® Xeon® Processor E7 v4 Family and Intel® Xeon® Processor E5 v3 Family, Intel® Xeon® Processor E5 v4 Family

• CVE-2020-8738
• CVE-2020-8740
• CVE-2020-8764

Intel® Xeon® Processor D Family

• CVE-2020-8739
• CVE-2020-8740
• CVE-2020-8764

Intel® Xeon® Processor E7 v3 Family

• CVE2020-8764

Intel® Atom® Processor C3XXX

• CVE-2020-8738

Intel recommends that users of the affected products update to the latest BIOS firmware provided by the system manufacturer that addresses these issues.

Acknowledgements:

Intel would like to thank Dmitry Frolov (CVE-2020-8738) for reporting this issue.

The following issues were found internally by Intel, CVE-2020-8739 and CVE-2020-8764. Intel would like to thank Brent Holtsclaw for CVE-2020-8740.

Intel, and nearly the entire technology industry, follows a disclosure practice called Coordinated Disclosure, under which a cybersecurity vulnerability is generally publicly disclosed only after mitigations are available.