# CVE-2021-3614: Privilege escalation in Notebook BIOS

> An attacker with physical access can elevate privileges during a BIOS update via Lenovo Vantage on affected notebook systems.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.4 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/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:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 16 Jul 2021
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-g8m2-gv7w-7c9h

## What is CVE-2021-3614?

CVE-2021-3614 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Lenovo Notebook BIOS, published on 16 Jul 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

A vulnerability was reported on some Lenovo Notebook systems that could allow an attacker with physical access to elevate privileges under certain conditions during a BIOS update performed by Lenovo Vantage.

Weakness: CWE-636 (Not Failing Securely)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-3614?

It affects 21 products.


Products: Lenovo 100e 2nd Gen Firmware, Lenovo 300e 2nd Gen Firmware, Lenovo Ideapad 1-11ada05 Firmware, Lenovo Ideapad 1-11igl05 Firmware, Lenovo Ideapad 1-14ada05 Firmware, Lenovo Ideapad 1-14igl05 Firmware, Lenovo Ideapad 730-13iml Firmware, Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5-14alc05 Firmware, Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5-15alc05 Firmware, Lenovo Ideapad S940-14iil Firmware, Lenovo Ideapad S940-14iwl Firmware, Lenovo Ideapad Slim 1-11ast-05 Firmware, Lenovo Ideapad Slim 1-14ast-05 Firmware, Lenovo Ideapad Yoga C940-15irh Firmware, Lenovo Ideapad Yoga S730-13iml Firmware, Lenovo Ideapad Yoga S940-14iil Firmware, Lenovo Ideapad Yoga S940-14iwl Firmware, Lenovo V130-15igm Firmware, Lenovo V130-15ikb Firmware, Lenovo V330-15ikb Firmware and 1 more.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-3614?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-3614 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-3614 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-3614 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Lenovo Notebook BIOS

- [CVE-2022-1892](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-1892/): Memory corruption in BIOS (medium 6.7)
- [CVE-2019-10724](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-10724/): Privilege escalation in n/a (medium 6.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-3614 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-3614 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Lenovo Notebook BIOS, published on 16 Jul 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-3614 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Lenovo Notebook 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-2021-3614/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3614/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-3614
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-3614
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-3614

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3614/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.