# CVE-2023-28738: Privilege escalation in Intel NUC BIOS firmware

> A privileged local attacker can escalate privileges on Intel NUC devices due to improper input validation in the BIOS firmware.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/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:** 19 Jan 2024
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-8f75-mv2x-xfw9

## What is CVE-2023-28738?

CVE-2023-28738 is a high-severity vulnerability in Intel NUC BIOS firmware, published on 19 Jan 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Improper input validation for some Intel NUC BIOS firmware before version JY0070 may allow a privileged user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access.

Weakness: CWE-116 (Improper Encoding or Escaping of Output), CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-28738?

It affects 6 products.


Products: Intel Nuc 7 Essential Nuc7cjysamn Firmware, Intel Nuc Kit Nuc7cjyh Firmware, Intel Nuc Kit Nuc7cjyhn Firmware, Intel Nuc Kit Nuc7cjysal Firmware, Intel Nuc Kit Nuc7pjyh Firmware, Intel Nuc Kit Nuc7pjyhn Firmware.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-28738?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-28738 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-28738 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-28738 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Intel NUC BIOS firmware

- [CVE-2023-42429](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-42429/): Privilege escalation in Intel NUC BIOS firmware (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-28738 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-28738 is a high-severity vulnerability in Intel NUC BIOS firmware, published on 19 Jan 2024. 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-2023-28738 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Intel NUC BIOS 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-2023-28738/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-28738/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-28738
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-28738
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-28738

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-28738/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.