CVE-2023-31343
Published: 11 February 2025
Summary
CVE-2023-31343 is a high-severity Insufficient Granularity of Access Control (CWE-1220) vulnerability in Amd (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 13.9th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-16 (Memory Protection).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2023-31343 is an improper input validation vulnerability in the SMM handler that may allow a privileged attacker to overwrite SMRAM, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution. It affects AMD platforms, as detailed in multiple AMD security bulletins. The vulnerability is associated with CWE-1220 and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating high severity with local attack vector, high attack complexity, high privileges required, no user interaction, changed scope, and high impacts to confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
A privileged local attacker could exploit this vulnerability by targeting the SMM handler with malformed input, enabling overwrite of SMRAM contents. Successful exploitation could result in arbitrary code execution within the high-privilege System Management Mode, potentially compromising the system's firmware and enabling persistent, kernel-level control or escalation to full system compromise.
AMD security bulletins provide guidance on mitigation, including AMD-SB-3009, AMD-SB-4008, and AMD-SB-5004, which detail affected products, firmware updates, and recommended patches to address the improper input validation in the SMM handler. Security practitioners should consult these advisories for platform-specific remediation steps.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-35654
Vulnerability details
Improper input validation in the SMM handler may allow a privileged attacker to overwrite SMRAM, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
SMM handler input validation flaw directly enables local privileged exploitation for escalation to SMM code execution (T1068) and firmware compromise/persistence (T1542.001).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly mandates validation of inputs to the SMM handler, preventing malformed inputs from overwriting SMRAM.
Requires timely remediation of the improper input validation flaw through firmware updates as recommended in AMD security bulletins.
Implements safeguards to protect SMRAM from unauthorized overwrite and arbitrary code execution resulting from the vulnerability.