# CVE-2016-8222: Privilege escalation in ThinkPad systems

> A signed kernel driver flaw allows administrators to alter BIOS settings or cause denial of service via System Management Mode calls.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.4 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 30 Nov 2016
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-7jpm-3pp4-32q5

## What is CVE-2016-8222?

CVE-2016-8222 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Lenovo Group Ltd. ThinkPad systems, published on 30 Nov 2016. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability has been identified in a signed kernel driver for the BIOS of some ThinkPad systems that can allow an attacker with Windows administrator-level privileges to call System Management Mode (SMM) services. This could lead to a denial of service attack or allow certain BIOS variables or settings to be altered (such as boot sequence). The setting or changing of BIOS passwords is not affected by this vulnerability.

Weakness: CWE-284 (Improper Access Control)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-8222?

It affects 74 products.


Products: Lenovo Thinkpad 10 Ella 2 Bios, Lenovo Thinkpad 11e Beema Bios, Lenovo Thinkpad 11e Braswell Bios, Lenovo Thinkpad 11e Broadwell Bios, Lenovo Thinkpad 11e Skylake Bios, Lenovo Thinkpad 13e Bios, Lenovo Thinkpad E450 Bios, Lenovo Thinkpad E450c Bios, Lenovo Thinkpad E455 Bios, Lenovo Thinkpad E460 Bios, Lenovo Thinkpad E465 Bios, Lenovo Thinkpad E550 Bios, Lenovo Thinkpad E550c Bios, Lenovo Thinkpad E555 Bios, Lenovo Thinkpad E560 Bios, Lenovo Thinkpad E565 Bios, Lenovo Thinkpad Edge E440 Bios, Lenovo Thinkpad Edge E445 Bios, Lenovo Thinkpad Edge E540 Bios, Lenovo Thinkpad Edge E545 Bios and 54 more.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-8222?

No fix has been published for CVE-2016-8222 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2016-8222 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-8222 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-8222 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-8222 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Lenovo Group Ltd. ThinkPad systems, published on 30 Nov 2016. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-8222 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Lenovo Group Ltd. ThinkPad systems. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-8222/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-8222/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-8222
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-8222
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-8222

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-8222/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.