Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2023-25521 affects NVIDIA DGX A100/A800 system BIOS. A highly privileged local attacker could abuse poor input validation to run with unnecessary privileges, potentially causing service disruption, data exposure, or data tampering.
Executive priority
Treat this as a high-priority firmware maintenance item for DGX fleets, especially shared or production AI infrastructure. It is not evidenced as an internet-scale emergency in the provided sources, but the impact is serious if a privileged local attacker is present.
Technical view
The issue is in DGX A100/A800 SBIOS before version 1.21. It is categorized as CWE-250 and scored CVSS 7.5 with local access, high attack complexity, high privileges required, no user interaction, changed scope, and high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to organizations operating NVIDIA DGX A100 or A800 systems with SBIOS versions earlier than 1.21. Risk is most relevant in shared AI, HPC, lab, or managed-hosting environments where privileged local access exists.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation. The CVSS vector indicates exploitation requires local access, high privileges, and high complexity, but successful exploitation could affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Researcher notes
Key gaps are exploit availability and detailed attack mechanics; the bundle does not provide them. Validation should focus on product identity, SBIOS version, local privilege boundaries, and whether affected DGX systems are shared across users or tenants.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade DGX A100/A800 SBIOS to version 1.21 or later.
- Review NVIDIA advisory 5461 for supported update guidance.
- Prioritize shared or production DGX systems first.
- Restrict privileged local access to trusted administrators.
- Monitor NVIDIA support channels for revised guidance.
Validation and detection
- Inventory all DGX A100/A800 systems.
- Record current SBIOS versions for each system.
- Flag systems running SBIOS earlier than 1.21.
- Confirm firmware updates completed successfully.
- Review privileged local account access on affected systems.
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-250: Exact CWE lookup
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Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2023-25521 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
- 7.5 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/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:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H0.86Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.5HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5461CVE reference
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.
Execution with Unnecessary Privileges
Execution with Unnecessary Privileges represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.