CVE-2021-36342

Severity: medium (CVSS 6.4 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2022-01-24 · updated 2026-10-07
Weakness: CWE-119

Description

Dell BIOS contains an improper input validation vulnerability. A local authenticated malicious user may potentially exploit this vulnerability by using an SMI to gain arbitrary code execution in SMRAM.

Affected products

Dell Alienware 13 R3 Firmware: before 1.14.0 — fixed in 1.14.0
Dell Alienware 15 R3 Firmware: before 1.14.0 — fixed in 1.14.0
Dell Alienware 15 R4 Firmware: before 1.15.0 — fixed in 1.15.0
Dell Alienware 17 R4 Firmware: before 1.14.0 — fixed in 1.14.0
Dell Alienware 17 R5 Firmware: before 1.15.0 — fixed in 1.15.0
Dell Alienware Area 51M R1 Firmware: before 1.16.0 — fixed in 1.16.0
Dell Alienware Area 51M R2 Firmware: before 1.11.0 — fixed in 1.11.0
Dell Alienware Aurora R11 Firmware: before 1.0.10 — fixed in 1.0.10
Dell Alienware Aurora R12 Firmware: before 1.1.8 — fixed in 1.1.8
Dell Alienware Aurora R8 Firmware: before 1.0.18 — fixed in 1.0.18
Dell Alienware Aurora R9 Firmware: before 1.0.15 — fixed in 1.0.15
Dell Alienware M15 R1 Firmware: before 2.10.0 — fixed in 2.10.0
Dell Alienware M15 R2 Firmware: before 1.10.0 — fixed in 1.10.0
Dell Alienware M15 R3 Firmware: before 1.12.0 — fixed in 1.12.0
Dell Alienware M15 R4 Firmware: before 1.6.2 — fixed in 1.6.2
Dell Alienware M17 R1 Firmware: before 2.10.0 — fixed in 2.10.0
Dell Alienware M17 R2 Firmware: before 1.10.0 — fixed in 1.10.0
Dell Alienware M17 R3 Firmware: before 1.12.0 — fixed in 1.12.0
Dell Alienware M17 R4 Firmware: before 1.6.2 — fixed in 1.6.2
Dell Alienware X15 R1 Firmware: before 1.5.0 — fixed in 1.5.0
Dell Alienware X17 R1 Firmware: before 1.5.0 — fixed in 1.5.0
Dell Chengming 3977 Firmware: before 1.14.0 — fixed in 1.14.0
Dell Chengming 3980 Firmware: before 2.20.0 — fixed in 2.20.0
Dell Chengming 3988 Firmware: before 1.8.0 — fixed in 1.8.0
Dell Chengming 3990 Firmware: before 1.6.0 — fixed in 1.6.0
Dell Chengming 3991 Firmware: before 1.6.0 — fixed in 1.6.0
Dell G15 5510 Firmware: before 1.6.0 — fixed in 1.6.0
Dell G15 5511 Firmware: before 1.6.0 — fixed in 1.6.0
Dell G3 3500 Firmware: before 1.11.0 — fixed in 1.11.0
Dell G3 3579 Firmware: before 1.15.1 — fixed in 1.15.1

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Dell Alienware 13 R3 Firmware 1.14.0; Dell Alienware 15 R3 Firmware 1.14.0; Dell Alienware 15 R4 Firmware 1.15.0; Dell Alienware 17 R4 Firmware 1.14.0; Dell Alienware 17 R5 Firmware 1.15.0; Dell Alienware Area 51M R1 Firmware 1.16.0; Dell Alienware Area 51M R2 Firmware 1.11.0; Dell Alienware Aurora R11 Firmware 1.0.10; Dell Alienware Aurora R12 Firmware 1.1.8; Dell Alienware Aurora R8 Firmware 1.0.18; Dell Alienware Aurora R9 Firmware 1.0.15; Dell Alienware M15 R1 Firmware 2.10.0. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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