# CVE-2020-7205: Security feature bypass in HP Intelligent Provisioning

> Local attackers can bypass Secure Boot to execute arbitrary code during boot on HPE servers via GRUB2 vulnerability.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 Jul 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-9j98-c4pq-wvqj

## What is CVE-2020-7205?

CVE-2020-7205 is a medium-severity vulnerability in HP Intelligent Provisioning, published on 30 Jul 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A potential security vulnerability has been identified in HPE Intelligent Provisioning, Service Pack for ProLiant, and HPE Scripting ToolKit. The vulnerability could be locally exploited to allow arbitrary code execution during the boot process. **Note:** This vulnerability is related to using insmod in GRUB2 in the specific impacted HPE product and HPE is addressing this issue. HPE has made the following software updates and mitigation information to resolve the vulnerability in Intelligent Provisioning, Service Pack for ProLiant, and HPE Scripting ToolKit. HPE provided latest Intelligent Provisioning, Service Pack for ProLiant, and HPE Scripting Toolkit which includes the GRUB2 patch to resolve this vulnerability. These new boot images will update GRUB2 and the Forbidden Signature Database (DBX). After the DBX is updated, users will not be able to boot to the older IP, SPP or Scripting ToolKit with Secure Boot enabled. HPE have provided a standalone DBX update tool to work with Microsoft Windows, and supported Linux Operating Systems. These tools can be used to update the Forbidden Signature Database (DBX) from within the OS. **Note:** This DBX update mitigates the GRUB2 issue with insmod enabled, and the "Boot Hole" issue for HPE signed GRUB2 applications.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-7205?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Hpe Intelligent Provisioning, Hpe Service Pack for Proliant, Hpe Smartstart Scripting Toolkit.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-7205?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-7205 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-7205 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-7205 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in HP Intelligent Provisioning

- [CVE-2023-30906](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-30906/): Privilege escalation in HPE Intelligent Provisioning (IP) for Gen9 (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-7205 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-7205 is a medium-severity vulnerability in HP Intelligent Provisioning, published on 30 Jul 2020. 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-2020-7205 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: HP Intelligent Provisioning. 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-2020-7205/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7205/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-7205
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-7205
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-7205

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7205/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.