# CVE-2020-8332: Race condition in System x

> A race condition in legacy BIOS USB drivers allows arbitrary code execution on affected Lenovo and IBM System x servers.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.4 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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:** 14 Oct 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-5pp7-xmxh-rxh5

## What is CVE-2020-8332?

CVE-2020-8332 is a medium-severity vulnerability in IBM System x, published on 14 Oct 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A potential vulnerability in the SMI callback function used in the legacy BIOS mode USB drivers in some legacy Lenovo and IBM System x servers may allow arbitrary code execution. Servers operating in UEFI mode are not affected.

Weakness: CWE-367 (Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-8332?

It affects 18 products.


Products: Lenovo Bladecenter Hs23 Firmware, Lenovo Bladecenter Hs23e Firmware, Lenovo Compute Node-X440 Firmware, Lenovo Flex System X220 Firmware, Lenovo Flex System X240 Firmware, Lenovo Flex System X440 Firmware, Lenovo Idataplex Dx360 M4 Firmware, Lenovo Idataplex Dx360 M4 Water Cooled Firmware, Lenovo Nextscale Nx360 M4 Firmware, Lenovo System X3300 M4 Firmware, Lenovo System X3500 M4 Firmware, Lenovo System X3530 M4 Firmware, Lenovo System X3550 M4 Firmware, Lenovo System X3630 M4 Firmware, Lenovo System X3650 M4 Bd Firmware, Lenovo System X3650 M4 Firmware, Lenovo System X3650 M4 Hd Firmware, Lenovo System X3750 M4 Firmware.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-8332?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-8332 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-8332 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-8332 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-8332 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-8332 is a medium-severity vulnerability in IBM System x, published on 14 Oct 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-2020-8332 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: IBM System x. 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-2020-8332/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-8332/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-8332
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-8332
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-8332

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-8332/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.