# CVE-2019-18216: Security feature bypass in n/a

> Attackers with physical access can bypass USB boot restrictions by draining the main battery, allowing unauthorized hard drive access via live USB.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 20 Oct 2019
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-j988-q3vx-6wph

## What is CVE-2019-18216?

CVE-2019-18216 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 20 Oct 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The BIOS configuration design on ASUS ROG Zephyrus M GM501GS laptops with BIOS 313 relies on the main battery instead of using a CMOS battery, which reduces the value of a protection mechanism in which booting from a USB device is prohibited. Attackers who have physical laptop access can exhaust the main battery to reset the BIOS configuration, and then achieve direct access to the hard drive by booting a live USB OS without disassembling the laptop. NOTE: the vendor has apparently indicated that this is "normal" and use of the same battery for the BIOS and the overall system is a "new design." However, the vendor apparently plans to "improve" this an unspecified later time

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-18216?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Asus Rog Zephyrus M Gm501gs Firmware.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-18216?

No fix has been published for CVE-2019-18216 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2019-18216 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-18216 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-18216 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-18216 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 20 Oct 2019. 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-2019-18216 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. 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-2019-18216/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-18216/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-18216
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-18216
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-18216

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-18216/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.