The latest security information on Intel® products.

Intel BIOS Platform Sample Code Advisory

Intel ID: INTEL-SA-00390
Advisory Category: Firmware
Impact of vulnerability: Escalation of Privilege
Severity rating: HIGH
Original release: 11/10/2020
Last revised: 11/10/2020
View all Show less

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(R) 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(R) 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(R) 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(R) 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.

Revision History

Revision Date Description
1.0 11/10/2020 Initial Release
View all Show less

Legal Notices and Disclaimers

Intel provides these materials as-is, with no express or implied warranties.

All products, dates, and figures specified are preliminary based on current expectations, and are subject to change without notice.

Intel products and services described may contain design defects or errors known as errata, which may cause the product to deviate from published specifications. Current characterized errata are available on request.

Intel products that have met their End of Servicing Updates may no longer receive functional and security updates. For additional details on support and servicing, please see this help article. 

Intel technologies’ features and benefits depend on system configuration and may require enabled hardware, software or service activation. Performance varies depending on system configuration. No product or component can be absolutely secure. Check with your system manufacturer or retailer or learn more at http://intel.com.

Some results have been estimated or simulated using internal Intel analysis or architecture simulation or modeling, and provided to you for informational purposes. Any differences in your system hardware, software or configuration may affect your actual performance.

© Intel Corporation.  Intel, the Intel logo, and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries United States and other countries.  Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

Report a Vulnerability

If you have information about a security issue or vulnerability with an Intel branded product or technology, please send an e-mail to secure@intel.com. Encrypt sensitive information using our PGP public key.

Please provide as much information as possible, including:

  • The products and versions affected
  • Detailed description of the vulnerability
  • Information on known exploits

A member of the Intel Product Security Team will review your e-mail and contact you to collaborate on resolving the issue. For more information on how Intel works to resolve security issues, see:

For issues related to Intel's external web presence (Intel.com and related subdomains), please contact Intel's External Security Research team.

Need product support?

If you...

  • Have questions about the security features of an Intel product
  • Require technical support
  • Want product updates or patches


Please visit Support & Downloads.