New UEFI Firmware Flaw Exposes Well-liked Motherboards To Assaults

Cybersecurity consultants simply discovered a flaw in the UEFI firmware that many trendy motherboards use. The “bug” might let attackers do direct reminiscence entry (DMA) assaults on techniques, which can allow unauthorized customers to achieve deep and protracted entry to affected techniques underneath sure situations, and the worst half is that it impacts boards from a number of main producers, together with Gigabyte, MSI, ASUS, and ASRock.

To provide you context, the PC motherboard accommodates low-level software program known as UEFI, or Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, which securely begins the working system and initializes {hardware} elements. Certainly one of its main safety obligations is to allow the Enter-Output Reminiscence Administration Unit (IOMMU), a hardware-based isolation mechanism that’s supposed to safeguard system reminiscence. If arrange appropriately, the IOMMU stops exterior gadgets from studying or writing to random components of system RAM.

Elements similar to PCIe enlargement playing cards, Thunderbolt peripherals, GPUs, and comparable {hardware} that may entry reminiscence instantly with out passing by way of the CPU are included in DMA-capable gadgets. Malicious or compromised {hardware} can have much less of an influence as a result of these gadgets are restricted to specific reminiscence areas if the IOMMU is operational and correctly initialized.

The just lately found vulnerability is brought on by the unsuitable method this safety was arrange; in affected motherboards, the UEFI firmware says that DMA safety is on, although the IOMMU was by no means absolutely or appropriately arrange, after which the working system consequently assumes that reminiscence protections are carried out, although they don’t seem to be actively enforced.

The problem is being tracked underneath a number of vulnerability identifiers: CVE-2025-11901, CVE-2025-14302, CVE-2025-14303, and CVE-2025-14304, as motherboard distributors implement UEFI options otherwise.

Researchers at Riot Video games, the developer of well-known multiplayer video games like League of Legends and Valorant, have been the primary ones to determine the vulnerability. Vanguard, Riot’s anti-cheat system, is carried out on the kernel degree and incorporates safeguards which can be supposed to stop unauthorized system manipulation. Valorant could also be prevented from launching on techniques which can be affected by this particular flaw, as it detects an unsafe {hardware} safety state.

There’s an necessary limitation to consider, although the potential impact might be horrible: the flexibility to bodily entry the system and join a malicious PCIe or comparable system earlier than the working system boots up are conditions for a DMA assault. Consequently, the likelihood of widespread exploitation is considerably diminished, notably for residential customers.

Customers are being suggested to monitor updates from their motherboard producers and apply any out there firmware patches. Updating the UEFI firmware continues to be important to preserving system safety, notably in mild of the continued evolution of hardware-level assaults.

Filed in Computers. Learn extra about Asus, Cybersecurity, Gigabyte, Msi and Security.