CVE-2020-7753

CVE-2020-7753 is a vulnerability that was discovered in January 2020. This vulnerability affects the firmware of certain Intel processors, specifically the firmware that controls the system management mode (SMM) code. SMM is a special operating mode that is intended to be used only by system firmware when performing low-level system management tasks. However, if this mode is compromised, an attacker can gain elevated privileges on the system and potentially execute arbitrary code. The vulnerability was caused by a flaw in the way the firmware handled certain instructions. Specifically, it was possible for an attacker to trigger a stack overflow by sending a specially crafted message to the firmware. This would allow the attacker to overwrite critical data in memory and potentially execute malicious code or cause the system to crash. The vulnerability was rated as "high severity" due to the potential impact on system security and integrity. Intel released a firmware update in February 2020 that addressed the vulnerability. Users of affected systems were advised to install the update as soon as possible to mitigate the risk of exploitation. As of September 2021, there have been no known instances of the vulnerability being exploited in the wild. However, this serves as a reminder of the importance of keeping software and firmware up-to-date to reduce the risk of vulnerabilities being exploited.