Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This is a BIOS firmware memory corruption flaw affecting some Intel processors. A local user with privileges could potentially gain higher privileges on the device. It is high severity because successful abuse could affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability, but the source bundle does not show remote exploitation or active attacks.
Executive priority
Treat as a high-priority firmware hygiene issue, especially for servers, appliances, and shared workstations. It is less urgent than remote unauthenticated vulnerabilities, but delayed firmware updates can leave durable privilege-escalation risk below the operating system.
Technical view
CVE-2021-0153 is a CWE-787 out-of-bounds write in BIOS firmware for some Intel processors. CVSS 3.1 is 7.8 with local access, low complexity, low privileges, no user interaction, and high impact across confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Affected versions are deferred to vendor references.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely limited to systems using affected Intel processor platforms and vulnerable BIOS firmware. The bundle does not enumerate exact processor generations, board models, OEM systems, or firmware versions, so teams must map assets against Intel and OEM guidance.
Exploitation context
The CVE record describes local privilege escalation by a privileged user. The source bundle marks CISA KEV status as false and provides no cited evidence of active exploitation, public exploit use, or remote attack paths.
Researcher notes
The available bundle establishes vulnerability class, CVSS, local privileged attack preconditions, and high impact. It does not include exact affected processor list, fixed firmware versions, OEM package names, proof-of-concept status, or exploitation telemetry beyond KEV being false.
Mitigation direction
- Review Intel SA-00601 and relevant OEM firmware advisories for affected platforms.
- Apply vendor-approved BIOS or firmware updates where your hardware is listed affected.
- Check NetApp advisory NTAP-20220818-0003 if NetApp systems are in scope.
- Prioritize systems with shared administration, high-value workloads, or weak local access controls.
- Restrict local privileged access while firmware remediation is pending.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Intel-based systems and record processor, platform, OEM model, and BIOS firmware version.
- Compare inventory against Intel SA-00601 and OEM affected-version guidance.
- Verify whether any NetApp appliances match NTAP-20220818-0003 scope.
- Confirm firmware update status through endpoint, server, or appliance management tooling.
- Document systems where vendor guidance is unavailable or hardware is unsupported.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-787: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-0153 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H1.85.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.8HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/security-center/advisory/intel-sa-00601.htmlCVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20220818-0003/CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Out-of-bounds Write
Out-of-bounds Write represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.