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Intel®Xeon® 5500, 5600 Series Baseboard Management Component (BMC) Firmware Privilege Escalation
| Intel ID | INTEL-SA-00026 |
|---|---|
| Product family | Intel®Xeon® 5500, 5600 Baseboard Management Component |
| Impact of vulnerability | Elevation of Privilege |
| Severity rating | Moderate |
| Original release | Nov 01, 2010 |
| Last revised | Nov 01, 2010 |
Summary:
Intel is releasing a firmware update to mitigate a privilege escalation issue with Intel®Xeon® 5500, 5600 Series Baseboard Management Component (BMC) Firmware.
Description:
Under certain circumstances a privilege escalation issue is present in the Baseboard Management Component (BMC) firmware for Intel®Xeon® 5500, 5600 Series products. A knowledgeable remote malicious attacker could leverage this issue to deny service to legitimate users. This issue was found during internal validation testing and Intel has not received any reports of it being exploited externally. Intel is releasing a firmware update to mitigate this issue.
Affected products:
Intel® Xeon® 5500 Series BMC Firmware
Intel® Xeon® 5600 Series BMC Firmware
Recommendations:
While Intel is not aware of any reports of this issue being exploited externally, Intel has made changes to the Intel® Xeon® 5500 and 5600 Series BMC Firmware to mitigate these issues. It is highly recommended to apply these updates to affected products. For the Intel products listed in the Affected Products table, Intel has made available updated firmware per the table below.
Firmware update packages for EFI
Note that the Read Me and/or Release Note documents at the above locations will provide instructions for updating the firmware. In addition there is a demo at the following location:
http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/CS-030611.htm
After the firmware has been updated you need to set BMC defaults and then reset the BMC to use the updated values. To set the BMC defaults run the following command from the EFI command prompt:
fwpiaupd -setdef
After the command has completed remove AC power from the system. Leave the AC off for at least 30 seconds and then reapply AC power.
There are multiple ways of telling what your current version of BMC firmware. You can use any one of the following methods:
· Reboot or power cycle the system. During POST after video comes up press F2 to go into Setup. After you are in setup use the right or left arrow keys to select the Server Management tab. Then use the down arrow to highlight System Information and then press enter.
· Use the sysconfig utility that comes with the Intel® Deployment Assistant CD that came with your system. If that is not available then the links to the ISO images to create a new CD are below. Command to run: sysconfig /i
Intel® Deployment Assistant ISO Image
· Use the Intel® Active System Console.
On the left side of the screen select the System button. Then select the Summary button.
Latest version (4.2) for Linux and Windows*: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=19283&lang=eng
Users Guide: http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sysmgmt/sb/CS-030909.htm
Demo for installing: http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sysmgmt/sb/CS-029479.htm
Acknowledgements:
Discovered during internal product validation.
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