CVE-2023-28056 in Dell
Summary
by MITRE • 06/23/2023
Dell BIOS contains an improper input validation vulnerability. A local authenticated malicious user with administrator privileges may potentially exploit this vulnerability in order to modify a UEFI variable.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/17/2023
This vulnerability resides within the Dell BIOS implementation and represents a critical weakness in input validation mechanisms that could enable privilege escalation and system compromise. The flaw specifically affects the UEFI variable modification process, where insufficient validation allows malicious actors with administrator privileges to manipulate system firmware parameters. This vulnerability operates at the firmware level, making it particularly dangerous as it can persist across operating system reboots and potentially bypass traditional security controls.
The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-20, which describes improper input validation, and demonstrates how firmware-level validation failures can create persistent attack vectors. The vulnerability requires local authenticated access with administrator privileges, making it exploitable by users who already possess elevated system rights. However, the impact extends beyond simple privilege escalation as UEFI variable manipulation can alter critical system parameters including boot configurations, security settings, and hardware initialization sequences. This creates opportunities for attackers to establish persistent backdoors, disable security features, or redirect system boot processes.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant as it undermines the fundamental security model of UEFI firmware, which is designed to provide a secure foundation for system boot processes. When an attacker can modify UEFI variables, they gain the ability to alter system integrity checks, disable secure boot mechanisms, and potentially install malicious firmware modifications that persist across system reboots. This vulnerability affects Dell systems running affected BIOS versions and represents a persistent threat that could allow attackers to maintain long-term access to compromised systems while evading traditional endpoint detection mechanisms.
Mitigation strategies should focus on immediate firmware updates from Dell to address the input validation flaw, along with implementing robust access controls to limit administrator privileges to only necessary personnel. System administrators should also monitor for unauthorized UEFI variable modifications through firmware-level integrity checking mechanisms and establish baseline configurations that can detect anomalous changes. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of firmware security in the broader cybersecurity landscape and highlights the need for comprehensive security controls that extend beyond traditional operating system boundaries to include firmware-level protections. Organizations should also consider implementing hardware security modules or trusted platform modules that can provide additional verification and protection against unauthorized firmware modifications.