# CVE-2020-5361: Security feature bypass in CPG BIOS

> Physically present attackers can use unauthorized tools to reset BIOS and HDD passwords, bypassing security restrictions and accessing protected data.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L`)
- **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:** 4 Jan 2021
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-863x-vcg8-vghr

## What is CVE-2020-5361?

CVE-2020-5361 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Dell CPG BIOS, published on 4 Jan 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Select Dell Client Commercial and Consumer platforms support a BIOS password reset capability that is designed to assist authorized customers who forget their passwords. Dell is aware of unauthorized password generation tools that can generate BIOS recovery passwords. The tools, which are not authorized by Dell, can be used by a physically present attacker to reset BIOS passwords and BIOS-managed Hard Disk Drive (HDD) passwords. An unauthenticated attacker with physical access to the system could potentially exploit this vulnerability to bypass security restrictions for BIOS Setup configuration, HDD access and BIOS pre-boot authentication.

Weakness: CWE-640 (Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-5361?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Dell Cpg Bios.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-5361?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-5361 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-5361 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-5361 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-5361 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-5361 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Dell CPG BIOS, published on 4 Jan 2021. 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-2020-5361 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Dell CPG BIOS. 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-2020-5361/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-5361/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-5361
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-5361
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-5361

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-5361/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.