CVE-2020-11483
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability in NVIDIA DGX servers involves hard-coded credentials in the AMI BMC firmware, allowing attackers to gain elevated privileges or access sensitive information. It affects all DGX-1 servers with BMC firmware versions before 3.38.30 and all DGX-2 servers with BMC firmware versions before 1.06.06. The high CVSS score of 9.8 indicates critical severity.
💻 Affected Systems
- NVIDIA DGX-1
- NVIDIA DGX-2
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Full compromise of the BMC, allowing attackers to gain administrative control over the server hardware, access sensitive data, or deploy persistent malware.
Likely Case
Unauthorized access to the BMC interface leading to information disclosure, configuration changes, or denial of service.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if network segmentation isolates BMC interfaces and strong access controls are implemented.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation is straightforward once an attacker gains network access to the BMC interface, using the hard-coded credentials.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: DGX-1: BMC firmware version 3.38.30 or later; DGX-2: BMC firmware version 1.06.06 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5010
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Download the updated BMC firmware from NVIDIA's support site. 2. Follow NVIDIA's firmware update instructions for DGX servers. 3. Reboot the server to apply the firmware update.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Network Segmentation
allIsolate BMC interfaces from untrusted networks to prevent access.
Access Control Lists
linuxImplement strict firewall rules to limit access to BMC IP addresses.
iptables -A INPUT -s <trusted_ip> -p tcp --dport <bmc_port> -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport <bmc_port> -j DROP
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Ensure BMC interfaces are not accessible from the internet or untrusted networks.
- Monitor BMC access logs for unauthorized login attempts and investigate anomalies.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check the BMC firmware version via the BMC web interface or IPMI commands; versions below the patched ones indicate vulnerability.Check Version:
ipmitool mc info | grep 'Firmware Revision' (requires IPMI access)Verify Fix Applied:
Confirm the BMC firmware version is 3.38.30 or later for DGX-1, or 1.06.06 or later for DGX-2.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Failed or successful login attempts to BMC with default/hard-coded credentials
- Unusual BMC configuration changes
Network Indicators:
- Unexpected network traffic to BMC ports (e.g., 623, 443)
- Scanning activity targeting BMC interfaces
SIEM Query:
source="bmc_logs" AND (event_type="login" AND (user="default" OR user="admin"))