VDB-398309 · CVE-2021-38489 · GCVE-0-2021-38489

Insyde H2O UEFI Variable missing encryption

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
5.0	$0-$5k	0.94+

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as problematic has been detected in Insyde H2O. Affected is an unknown function of the component UEFI Variable. The manipulation leads to missing encryption. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2021-38489. An attack has to be approached locally. There is no exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Insyde H2O (affected version not known) and classified as problematic. This issue affects some unknown functionality of the component UEFI Variable. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a missing encryption vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-311. The product does not encrypt sensitive or critical information before storage or transmission. Impacted is confidentiality.

The advisory is shared at insyde.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2021-38489 since 08/10/2021. The exploitation is known to be difficult. An attack has to be approached locally. Additional levels of successful authentication are needed for exploitation. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1600 for this issue.

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

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Productinfo

Vendor

Insyde

Name

License

commercial

CPE 2.3info

🔒

CPE 2.2info

🔒

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 5.0
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 5.0

VulDB Base Score: 1.9
VulDB Temp Score: 1.9
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CNA Base Score: 8.2
CNA Vector (Insyde): 🔒

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Missing encryption
CWE: CWE-311 / CWE-310
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: No

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined
Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: no mitigation known
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Timelineinfo

08/10/2021 CVE reserved
09/03/2026 +1850 days Advisory disclosed
09/03/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
09/03/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Advisory: insyde.com
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2021-38489 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2021-38489
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-398309

Entryinfo

Created: 09/03/2026 05:30
Changes: 09/03/2026 05:30 (59)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103