# CVE-2021-28216: Memory corruption in EDK II

> Attackers can exploit a pointer read from NVRAM in PEI to cause memory corruption, potentially leading to code execution or privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 5 Aug 2021
- **Updated:** 3 Nov 2025
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2021-28216, GHSA-6wgv-vj43-rpr5, OESA-2021-1458, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-28216

## What is CVE-2021-28216?

CVE-2021-28216 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in TianoCore EDK II, published on 5 Aug 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

BootPerformanceTable pointer is read from an NVRAM variable in PEI. Recommend setting PcdFirmwarePerformanceDataTableS3Support to FALSE.

Weakness: CWE-763 (Release of Invalid Pointer or Reference), CWE-587 (Assignment of a Fixed Address to a Pointer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-28216?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Tianocore Edk Ii.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-28216?

Change a configuration setting.

## Is CVE-2021-28216 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-28216 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in TianoCore EDK II

- [CVE-2018-12178](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-12178/): Memory corruption in Extensible Firmware Interface Development Kit (EDK II) (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2018-12179](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-12179/): Privilege escalation in Extensible Firmware Interface Development Kit (EDK II) (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2018-3613](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-3613/): Privilege escalation in Extensible Firmware Interface Development Kit (EDK II) (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2019-11098](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-11098/): Other in Tianocore (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2018-12183](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-12183/): Memory corruption in Extensible Firmware Interface Development Kit (EDK II) (medium 6.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-28216 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-28216 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in TianoCore EDK II, published on 5 Aug 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-2021-28216 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: TianoCore EDK II. 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-2021-28216/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-28216/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-28216
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-28216
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-28216

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-28216/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.