CVE-2024-52541: Dell Alienware M15 R6 Privilege Escalation

CVE-2024-52541 Overview

CVE-2024-52541 is a Weak Authentication vulnerability [CWE-1390] in Dell Client Platform BIOS across a broad range of Dell client systems including Latitude, Precision, OptiPlex, XPS, Inspiron, Vostro, Alienware, and Edge Gateway product families. A high-privileged attacker with local access can exploit the flaw to escalate privileges within the platform firmware. Because BIOS operates below the operating system, successful exploitation can subvert OS-level security controls. Dell published the fix in advisory DSA-2025-021.

Critical Impact
Local privilege escalation into the BIOS trust boundary enables tampering with firmware, persistence beneath the operating system, and impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Affected Products

Dell Latitude, Precision, OptiPlex, XPS, Inspiron, and Vostro client platforms (multiple generations)
Dell Alienware gaming laptops (M15, M16, M18, X14, X16 series)
Dell Chengming, Embedded Box PC, Wyse thin clients, and Edge Gateway 3000/5000 series

Discovery Timeline

2025-02-19 - CVE-2024-52541 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-52541

Vulnerability Analysis

The issue is classified under [CWE-1390: Weak Authentication] within Dell Client Platform BIOS. The BIOS accepts an authentication mechanism that does not sufficiently prove the identity of the calling principal before granting access to privileged firmware operations. An attacker who already holds elevated privileges on the host can leverage this weakness to cross the OS-to-firmware trust boundary.

Once inside the BIOS execution context, the attacker gains the ability to influence firmware configuration and system-level behavior. Because the scope changes from the operating system to the platform firmware, the impact reaches beyond the initially compromised component. This category of flaw is a known enabler of pre-boot persistence and Secure Boot tampering when combined with additional primitives.

Root Cause

The root cause is inadequate strength of the authentication check protecting a privileged BIOS interface. The mechanism can be satisfied by an attacker who possesses only local, high-privileged access, rather than requiring cryptographic proof tied to a hardware root of trust. Dell has not publicly disclosed the specific interface or component affected.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires local access and pre-existing high privileges on the target system, such as administrator or SYSTEM on Windows or root on Linux. No user interaction is needed. The attacker invokes the affected BIOS interface from the operating system, satisfies the weak authentication requirement, and executes firmware-level operations that would otherwise require stronger proof of identity. The result is elevation of privilege into the firmware trust domain.

// No verified public proof-of-concept is available for CVE-2024-52541.
// Refer to Dell Security Advisory DSA-2025-021 for vendor technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-52541

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected BIOS setting or password changes recorded in platform management logs
BIOS or firmware version mismatches versus the approved baseline for the model
Unexpected use of Dell BIOS management utilities (for example, Dell Command | Configure) by non-administrative workflows
New or modified UEFI variables observed during boot-time integrity checks

Detection Strategies

Compare deployed BIOS versions against Dell's fixed versions listed in DSA-2025-021 using inventory and vulnerability management tooling
Monitor for local privilege escalation activity that precedes firmware-management tool execution, since exploitation requires prior high privileges
Enable and centrally collect Windows Event Log firmware measurement events and TPM PCR measurements to identify unexpected BIOS state changes

Monitoring Recommendations

Ingest endpoint firmware inventory, BIOS event logs, and administrative process telemetry into a centralized analytics platform for correlation
Alert on execution of BIOS configuration utilities outside approved maintenance windows or by unexpected parent processes
Track TPM attestation and Measured Boot results to identify drift from the expected firmware baseline

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-52541

Immediate Actions Required

Identify all in-scope Dell client platforms listed in Dell Security Advisory DSA-2025-021 and update BIOS to the fixed version for each model
Restrict local administrator and SYSTEM/root privileges, since the vulnerability requires pre-existing high privileges to exploit
Enforce BIOS administrator passwords and Secure Boot on all affected fleets to reduce the value of local escalation

Patch Information

Dell has released updated BIOS firmware addressing CVE-2024-52541 for each affected platform. Fixed versions are enumerated per model in Dell Security Advisory DSA-2025-021. Deploy the firmware update using Dell Command | Update, Dell Client Management Pack, LVFS/fwupd on Linux, or your standard enterprise firmware management workflow.

Workarounds

No vendor-supplied workaround eliminates the vulnerability; applying the BIOS update is the definitive remediation
As interim risk reduction, limit local administrative access, disable unused BIOS management interfaces, and enforce full-disk encryption bound to TPM measurements

bash

# Example: enumerate current BIOS version on Windows to compare against Dell's fixed version
wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion,manufacturer,name

# Example: enumerate current BIOS version on Linux
sudo dmidecode -s bios-version
sudo dmidecode -s system-product-name