Skip to content
Noroxi
NVD / CVE Program· CNA TianoCore

CVE-2021-38576: A BIOS bug in firmware for a particular PC model leaves the Platform authorization value empty.

HighCVSS 7.5 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 30/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 1.2% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 69.8% of all records.
  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • Fixed version: edk2 (Debian:11) 2020.11-2+deb11u3; edk2 (Debian:12) 2021.11-1.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to edk2 (Debian:11) 2020.11-2+deb11u3; edk2 (Debian:12) 2021.11-1 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

A BIOS bug in firmware for a particular PC model leaves the Platform authorization value empty. This can be used to permanently brick the TPM in multiple ways, as well as to non-permanently DoS the system.

Published
Jan 3, 2022
Updated
Jun 17, 2026
EPSS
1.2% · 69th percentile
CWE
—

Report tools

JSON

Action score

30

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
30 / 40 · 7.5 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 1.2%

Get told when this record changes

  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • No public exploit code on record
  • A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2021-38576

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

One daily email digest (06:00 UTC); connect a webhook for KEV listings and weaponized exploits every 10 minutes on paid plans, on the hour on the free plan.

Your free account also gets you

  • CVE alerts: add the products and versions you run, get the new CVEs that affect them
  • Uptime monitoring: 1 site, instant email when it goes down
  • Add your domain: subdomains and takeover risk scanned every week (1 domain)
  • 10 scans an hour on the security tools, at most 30 a day (3 a day without an account), an API key and MCP
  • All your scans in one panel: findings, what changed in the last scan, a report per domain or per client (PDF, share link)
All free tools

Sign up with email · Have an account? Sign in

Free account, no card. Unfollow any time.

Don't want an account? Get "Exploited this week" by email every MondayDon't want an account? RSS feed for tianocore records
Is your version affected? Check it

Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

We use this product, ask for help

Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
tianocoreedk2

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (TianoCore). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • n/a EDK II

    • edk2-stable202105, edk2-stable202102, edk2-stable202011, edk2-stable202008, edk2-stable202005, edk2-stable202002, edk2-stable201911, edk2-stable201908, edk2-stable201905, edk2-stable201903, edk2-stablaffected
Affected versions · NVD (12)

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • tianocore edk2201808
  • tianocore edk2201811
  • tianocore edk2201903
  • tianocore edk2201905
  • tianocore edk2201908
  • tianocore edk2201911
  • tianocore edk2202002
  • tianocore edk2202005
  • tianocore edk2202008
  • tianocore edk2202011
  • tianocore edk2202102
  • tianocore edk2202105

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:11edk2before 2020.11-2+deb11u32020.11-2+deb11u3
Debian:12edk2before 2021.11-12021.11-1

Same product

tianocore: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2021-38578Existing CommBuffer checks in SmmEntryPoint will not catch underflow when computing BufferSize.
    39Monitor
  • CVE-2026-97631Pre-boot RCE in EDK II PXE driver
    38Monitor
  • CVE-2023-45235Buffer Overflow in EDK II Network Package
    35Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2021-28213Jun 11, 2021 · Example EDK2 encrypted private key in the IpSecDxe.efi present potential security risks.
    30Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2021-38575Dec 1, 2021 · NetworkPkg/IScsiDxe has remotely exploitable buffer overflows.
    33Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2022-36763Jan 9, 2024 · Heap Buffer Overflow in Tcg2MeasureGptTable
    31Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
debian:edk22021.11-1 · Debian:12Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

Not on record for this CVE: EPSS history · patch commit or PR link · researcher credit · variant or chain candidate · public bounty program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
none
Integrity
none
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
None
Integrity impact
None
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

—

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

References

Show all references (1 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records