# CVE-2021-33122: Privilege escalation in Intel(R) Processors

> A privileged local attacker can exploit insufficient control flow management in Intel Processor BIOS firmware to escalate privileges.

- **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:** No
- **Published:** 12 May 2022
- **Updated:** 5 May 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-xj72-m52w-529q

## What is CVE-2021-33122?

CVE-2021-33122 is a high-severity vulnerability in Intel(R) Processors, published on 12 May 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Insufficient control flow management in the BIOS firmware for some Intel(R) Processors may allow a privileged user to potentially enable aescalation of privilege via local access.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-33122?

It affects 233 products.


Products: Intel Celeron N4000 Firmware, Intel Celeron N4020 Firmware, Intel Celeron N4100 Firmware, Intel Celeron N4120 Firmware, Intel Celeron N4500 Firmware, Intel Celeron N4505 Firmware, Intel Celeron N5100 Firmware, Intel Celeron N5105 Firmware, Intel Core I3-1000g1 Firmware, Intel Core I3-1000g4 Firmware, Intel Core I3-1005g1 Firmware, Intel Core I3-10100 Firmware, Intel Core I3-10100e Firmware, Intel Core I3-10100f Firmware, Intel Core I3-10100t Firmware, Intel Core I3-10100te Firmware, Intel Core I3-10100y Firmware, Intel Core I3-10105 Firmware, Intel Core I3-10105f Firmware, Intel Core I3-10105t Firmware and 213 more.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-33122?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-33122 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-33122 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-33122 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-33122 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-33122 is a high-severity vulnerability in Intel(R) Processors, published on 12 May 2022. 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-2021-33122 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Intel(R) Processors. 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-2021-33122/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-33122/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-33122
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-33122
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-33122

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-33122/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.