# CVE-2021-36285: Security feature bypass in CPG BIOS

> A local administrator can bypass NVMe password attempt limits in Dell BIOS to facilitate brute force attacks against drive encryption.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L`)
- **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:** 28 Sep 2021
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-26ww-2c8f-2rgh

## What is CVE-2021-36285?

CVE-2021-36285 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Dell Latitude 5310 2-in-1 Firmware, published on 28 Sep 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Dell BIOS contains an Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts vulnerability. A local authenticated malicious administrator could exploit this vulnerability to bypass excessive NVMe password attempt mitigations in order to carry out a brute force attack.

Weakness: CWE-307 (Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-36285?

It affects 21 products.


Products: Dell Latitude 5310 2-in-1 Firmware, Dell Latitude 5320 Firmware, Dell Latitude 5400 Firmware, Dell Latitude 5411 Firmware, Dell Latitude 5500 Firmware, Dell Latitude 5511 Firmware, Dell Latitude 5520 Firmware, Dell Latitude 7212 Rugged Extreme Tablet Firmware, Dell Latitude 7280 Firmware, Dell Latitude 7320 Firmware, Dell Latitude 7370 Firmware, Dell Latitude 7420 Firmware, Dell Latitude 7480 Firmware, Dell Latitude 9410 Firmware, Dell Latitude 9510 Firmware, Dell Latitude 9520 Firmware, Dell Optiplex 3080 Firmware, Dell Optiplex 3280 Aio Firmware, Dell Optiplex 7480 Aio Firmware, Dell Precision 3551 Ffirmware and 1 more.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-36285?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-36285 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-36285 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-36285 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Dell Latitude 5310 2-in-1 Firmware

- [CVE-2021-36284](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-36284/): Security feature bypass in CPG BIOS (medium 5.7)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-36285 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-36285 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Dell Latitude 5310 2-in-1 Firmware, published on 28 Sep 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-2021-36285 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Dell Latitude 5310 2-in-1 Firmware. 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-2021-36285/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-36285/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-36285
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-36285
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-36285

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-36285/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.