Every CVE Search/ Get API key

CVE-2021-38578

Existing CommBuffer checks in SmmEntryPoint will not catch underflow when computing BufferSize.

7.4 HighFix available

Existing CommBuffer checks in SmmEntryPoint will not catch underflow when computing BufferSize.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Local
Complexity
High
Privileges needed
High
User interaction
None

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
Low

Exploit likelihood

1.02%Up 0.1 points since Mar 4, 2022
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

CVE List Score used 7.4

Existing CommBuffer checks in SmmEntryPoint will not catch underflow when computing BufferSize.

Record
CVE-2021-38578
CVSS 3.1
7.4 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L
Weakness
CWE-124
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2021-25020 7.4

Existing CommBuffer checks in SmmEntryPoint will not catch underflow when computing BufferSize.

Record
EUVD-2021-25020
CVSS 3.1
7.4 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L
Updated
2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-grqq-3jqg-g95p 9.8

Existing CommBuffer checks in SmmEntryPoint will not catch underflow when computing BufferSize.

Existing CommBuffer checks in SmmEntryPoint will not catch underflow when computing BufferSize.

Record
GHSA-grqq-3jqg-g95p
CVSS 3.1
9.8 CriticalCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-124, CWE-787
Updated
2026-11-02
NVD 7.4

Existing CommBuffer checks in SmmEntryPoint will not catch underflow when computing BufferSize.

Record
CVE-2021-38578
CVSS 3.1
7.4 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L
CVSS 3.1
9.8 CriticalCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 2.0
7.5 HighAV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
Weakness
CWE-124, CWE-787
Updated
2026-11-02
OSV 9.8

Existing CommBuffer checks in SmmEntryPoint will not catch underflow when computing BufferSize.

Record
CVE-2021-38578
CVSS 3.1
9.8 CriticalCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2021-38578 9.8

Existing CommBuffer checks in SmmEntryPoint will not catch underflow when computing BufferSize.

Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2021-38578
CVSS 3.1
9.8 CriticalCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Updated
2026-11-02
Show 12 moreShow less
OSVOESA-2022-2122 9.8

edk2 security update

EDK II is a modern, feature-rich, cross-platform firmware development environment for the UEFI and PI specifications.

Security Fix(es):

Existing CommBuffer checks in SmmEntryPoint will not catch underflow when computing BufferSize.(CVE-2021-38578)

Record
OESA-2022-2122
CVSS 3.1
9.8 CriticalCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVRHSA-2023:2165 7.5

Red Hat Security Advisory: edk2 security, bug fix, and enhancement update

Record
RHSA-2023:2165
CVSS 3.1
7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2021-38578 9.8

Existing CommBuffer checks in SmmEntryPoint will not catch underflow when computing BufferSize.

Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2021-38578
CVSS 3.1
9.8 CriticalCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 3.1
7.4 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVALSA-2023:2165 No score

Important: edk2 security, bug fix, and enhancement update

EDK (Embedded Development Kit) is a project to enable UEFI support for Virtual Machines. This package contains a sample 64-bit UEFI firmware for QEMU and KVM.

Security Fix(es):

  • openssl: X.400 address type confusion in X.509 GeneralName (CVE-2023-0286)
  • edk2: integer underflow in SmmEntryPoint function leads to potential SMM privilege escalation (CVE-2021-38578)
  • openssl: timing attack in RSA Decryption implementation (CVE-2022-4304)
  • openssl: double free after calling PEM_read_bio_ex (CVE-2022-4450)
  • openssl: use-after-free following BIO_new_NDEF (CVE-2023-0215)

For more details about the security issue(s), including the impact, a CVSS score, acknowledgments, and other related information, refer to the CVE page(s) listed in the References section.

Additional Changes:

For detailed information on changes in this release, see the AlmaLinux Release Notes linked from the References section.

Record
ALSA-2023:2165
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2024:12542-1 No score

ovmf-202211-1.1 on GA media

These are all security issues fixed in the ovmf-202211-1.1 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.

Record
openSUSE-SU-2024:12542-1
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVSUSE-SU-2023:1921-1 No score

Security update for ovmf

This update for ovmf fixes the following issues:

  • CVE-2019-14560: Fixed potential secure boot bypass via an improper check of GetEfiGlobalVariable2 (bsc#1174246).
  • CVE-2021-38578: Fixed underflow in MdeModulePkg/PiSmmCore SmmEntryPointAdd (bsc#1196741).
Record
SUSE-SU-2023:1921-1
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVSUSE-SU-2023:1940-1 No score

Security update for ovmf

This update for ovmf fixes the following issues:

  • CVE-2019-14560: Fixed potential secure boot bypass via an improper check of GetEfiGlobalVariable2 (bsc#1174246).
  • CVE-2021-38578: Fixed underflow in MdeModulePkg/PiSmmCore SmmEntryPointAdd (bsc#1196741).
Record
SUSE-SU-2023:1940-1
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVSUSE-SU-2023:1941-1 No score

Security update for ovmf

This update for ovmf fixes the following issues:

  • CVE-2019-14560: Fixed potential secure boot bypass via an improper check of GetEfiGlobalVariable2 (bsc#1174246).
  • CVE-2021-38578: Fixed underflow in MdeModulePkg/PiSmmCore SmmEntryPointAdd (bsc#1196741).
Record
SUSE-SU-2023:1941-1
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVSUSE-SU-2023:1958-1 No score

Security update for ovmf

This update for ovmf fixes the following issues:

  • CVE-2019-14560: Fixed potential secure boot bypass via an improper check of GetEfiGlobalVariable2 (bsc#1174246).
  • CVE-2021-38578: Fixed underflow in MdeModulePkg/PiSmmCore SmmEntryPointAdd (bsc#1196741).
Record
SUSE-SU-2023:1958-1
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVSUSE-SU-2023:1968-1 No score

Security update for ovmf

This update for ovmf fixes the following issues:

  • CVE-2019-14560: Fixed potential secure boot bypass via an improper check of GetEfiGlobalVariable2 (bsc#1174246).
  • CVE-2021-38578: Fixed underflow in MdeModulePkg/PiSmmCore SmmEntryPointAdd (bsc#1196741).
Record
SUSE-SU-2023:1968-1
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVSUSE-SU-2023:2234-1 No score

Security update for ovmf

This update for ovmf fixes the following issues:

  • CVE-2021-38578: Fixed potential underflow in SmmEntryPointwhen computing BufferSize (bsc#1196741).
  • CVE-2019-14560: Fixed potential secure boot bypass caused by improper check of GetEfiGlobalVariable2() return value (bsc#1174246).
  • revert a patch to fix xen boot problems (bsc#1205613)
Record
SUSE-SU-2023:2234-1
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVUSN-7060-1 No score

edk2 vulnerabilities

It was discovered that EDK II did not check the buffer length in XHCI, which could lead to a stack overflow. A local attacker could potentially use this issue to cause a denial of service. This issue only affected Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. (CVE-2019-0161)

Laszlo Ersek discovered that EDK II incorrectly handled recursion. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause EDK II to consume resources, leading to a denial of service. This issue only affected Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. (CVE-2021-28210)

Satoshi Tanda discovered that EDK II incorrectly handled decompressing certain images. A remote attacker could use this issue to cause EDK II to crash, resulting in a denial of service, or possibly execute arbitrary code. This issue only affected Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. (CVE-2021-28211)

It was discovered that EDK II incorrectly decoded certain strings. A remote attacker could use this issue to cause EDK II to crash, resulting in a denial of service, or possibly execute arbitrary code. This issue only affected Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. (CVE-2021-38575)

It was discovered that EDK II had integer underflow vulnerability in SmmEntryPoint, which could result in a buffer overflow. An attacker could potentially use this issue to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2021-38578)

Elison Niven discovered that OpenSSL, vendored in EDK II, incorrectly handled the c_rehash script. A local attacker could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary commands when c_rehash is run. This issue only affected Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. (CVE-2022-1292)

Record
USN-7060-1
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

Affected packages

Affected packages
PackageAffectedFixed
edk2-aarch64
AlmaLinux:9
before 20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
edk2-ovmf
AlmaLinux:9
before 20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
edk2-tools
AlmaLinux:9
before 20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
edk2-tools-doc
AlmaLinux:9
before 20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
edk2
Debian:12
before 2022.11-1
2022.11-1
edk2
Debian:13
before 2022.11-1
2022.11-1
edk2
Debian:14
before 2022.11-1
2022.11-1
edk2
Debian:11
before 2020.11-2+deb11u3, plus listed versions
2020.11-22020.11-2+deb11u12020.11-2+deb11u2
2020.11-2+deb11u3
edk2
openEuler:20.03-LTS-SP1
before 202002-11.oe1
202002-11.oe1
edk2
openEuler:20.03-LTS-SP3
before 202002-11.oe1
202002-11.oe1
Show 45 moreShow less
Affected packages
PackageAffectedFixed
edk2
openEuler:22.03-LTS
before 202011-7.oe2203
202011-7.oe2203
edk2
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream
before 0:20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
0:20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
edk2-aarch64
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream
before 0:20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
0:20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
edk2-ovmf
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream
before 0:20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
0:20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
edk2-aarch64
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::crb
before 0:20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
0:20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
edk2-debugsource
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::crb
before 0:20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
0:20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
edk2-ovmf
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::crb
before 0:20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
0:20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
edk2-tools
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::crb
before 0:20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
0:20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
edk2-tools-debuginfo
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::crb
before 0:20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
0:20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
edk2-tools-doc
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::crb
before 0:20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
0:20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2-LTSS
before 201911-150200.7.27.1
201911-150200.7.27.1
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2-LTSS
before 201911-150200.7.27.1
201911-150200.7.27.1
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP2
before 201911-150200.7.27.1
201911-150200.7.27.1
ovmf
SUSE:Enterprise Storage 7
before 201911-150200.7.27.1
201911-150200.7.27.1
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP1-LTSS
before 2017+git1510945757.b2662641d5-150000.5.46.1
2017+git1510945757.b2662641d5-150000.5.46.1
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1-LTSS
before 2017+git1510945757.b2662641d5-150000.5.46.1
2017+git1510945757.b2662641d5-150000.5.46.1
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP1
before 2017+git1510945757.b2662641d5-150000.5.46.1
2017+git1510945757.b2662641d5-150000.5.46.1
ovmf
SUSE:OpenStack Cloud 9
before 2017+git1510945757.b2662641d5-3.41.2
2017+git1510945757.b2662641d5-3.41.2
ovmf
SUSE:OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 9
before 2017+git1510945757.b2662641d5-3.41.2
2017+git1510945757.b2662641d5-3.41.2
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP4
before 2017+git1510945757.b2662641d5-3.41.2
2017+git1510945757.b2662641d5-3.41.2
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4-ESPOS
before 2017+git1510945757.b2662641d5-3.41.2
2017+git1510945757.b2662641d5-3.41.2
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4-LTSS
before 2017+git1510945757.b2662641d5-3.41.2
2017+git1510945757.b2662641d5-3.41.2
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5
before 2017+git1510945757.b2662641d5-3.41.2
2017+git1510945757.b2662641d5-3.41.2
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP5
before 2017+git1510945757.b2662641d5-3.41.2
2017+git1510945757.b2662641d5-3.41.2
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-ESPOS
before 202008-150300.10.20.1
202008-150300.10.20.1
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-LTSS
before 202008-150300.10.20.1
202008-150300.10.20.1
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP3
before 202008-150300.10.20.1
202008-150300.10.20.1
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3-LTSS
before 202008-150300.10.20.1
202008-150300.10.20.1
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP3
before 202008-150300.10.20.1
202008-150300.10.20.1
ovmf
SUSE:Manager Proxy 4.2
before 202008-150300.10.20.1
202008-150300.10.20.1
ovmf
SUSE:Manager Server 4.2
before 202008-150300.10.20.1
202008-150300.10.20.1
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.1
before 202008-150300.10.20.1
202008-150300.10.20.1
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.2
before 202008-150300.10.20.1
202008-150300.10.20.1
ovmf
SUSE:Enterprise Storage 7.1
before 202008-150300.10.20.1
202008-150300.10.20.1
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2-BCL
before 2015+git1462940744.321151f-19.26.1
2015+git1462940744.321151f-19.26.1
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3
before 202202-150400.5.10.1
202202-150400.5.10.1
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4
before 202202-150400.5.10.1
202202-150400.5.10.1
ovmf
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Server Applications 15 SP4
before 202202-150400.5.10.1
202202-150400.5.10.1
ovmf
openSUSE:Leap Micro 5.3
before 202202-150400.5.10.1
202202-150400.5.10.1
ovmf
openSUSE:Leap 15.4
before 202202-150400.5.10.1
202202-150400.5.10.1
edk2
Ubuntu:Pro:16.04:LTS
before 0~20160408.ffea0a2c-2ubuntu0.2+esm3, plus listed versions
0~20150106.5c2d456b-20~20160104.c2a892d7-10~20160408.ffea0a2c-20~20160408.ffea0a2c-2ubuntu0.10~20160408.ffea0a2c-2ubuntu0.20~20160408.ffea0a2c-2ubuntu0.2+esm1
0~20160408.ffea0a2c-2ubuntu0.2+esm3
edk2
Ubuntu:Pro:18.04:LTS
before 0~20180205.c0d9813c-2ubuntu0.3+esm2, plus listed versions
0~20170911.5dfba97c-10~20171010.234dbcef-10~20171027.76fd5a66-10~20171205.a9212288-10~20180105.0bc94c74-1
Show 6 moreShow less
0~20180205.c0d9813c-10~20180205.c0d9813c-20~20180205.c0d9813c-2ubuntu0.10~20180205.c0d9813c-2ubuntu0.20~20180205.c0d9813c-2ubuntu0.30~20180205.c0d9813c-2ubuntu0.3+esm1
0~20180205.c0d9813c-2ubuntu0.3+esm2
edk2
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS
before 0~20191122.bd85bf54-2ubuntu3.6, plus listed versions
0~20190606.20d2e5a1-2ubuntu10~20190828.37eef910-30~20190828.37eef910-40~20191122.bd85bf54-10~20191122.bd85bf54-1ubuntu1
Show 9 moreShow less
0~20191122.bd85bf54-20~20191122.bd85bf54-2ubuntu10~20191122.bd85bf54-2ubuntu20~20191122.bd85bf54-2ubuntu30~20191122.bd85bf54-2ubuntu3.10~20191122.bd85bf54-2ubuntu3.20~20191122.bd85bf54-2ubuntu3.30~20191122.bd85bf54-2ubuntu3.40~20191122.bd85bf54-2ubuntu3.5
0~20191122.bd85bf54-2ubuntu3.6
edk2
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS
before 2022.02-3ubuntu0.22.04.3, plus listed versions
2021.08~rc0-22021.08-32021.11~rc1-12021.11-12021.11-2
Show 7 moreShow less
2022.02~rc1-12022.02~rc1-1ubuntu12022.02-12022.02-22022.02-32022.02-3ubuntu0.22.04.12022.02-3ubuntu0.22.04.2
2022.02-3ubuntu0.22.04.3
ovmf
openSUSE:Tumbleweed
before 202211-1.1
202211-1.1

History

History
RecordedChangedSources
first indexedCVE List, EUVD, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV

Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.

In short

CVE-2021-38578 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.4) in Insyde Kernel, published March 3, 2022. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.02%, the 63rd percentile. Fixed in edk2-aarch64 20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2.

References

Show 57 moreShow less
MoveEnter Open