Dell DBUtil driver bug

You would think the big companies get it right, but even Dell seems to have gotten it wrong with their DBUtil driver bug. Dell’s firmware update driver appears to have been a security problem going as far back as 2009!

The current version 2.3 of the Dell BIOS driver (dbutil_2_3.sys) allows the OS and system apps to interact with the computer’s BIOS and hardware. A vulnerability in the driver could be abused to allow access to driver functions which would  enable execution of  malicious code with administrator level and kernel-level privileges.

Any time you would have executed a firmware update on a Windows Dell system, you could have this driver present on your computer. Note that this is independent of the Windows version. The issue affects the DBUtil driver only, not the firmware updates installed using this driver.

The best thing to do is to remove the driver immediately, until an update can be installed.

Check these file locations for the driver file:

• C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp

• C:\Windows\Temp

A solution from Dell for Windows 10 is already available.

The full details on the issue and the work in progress from Dell regarding the solution can be found here.

Another confirmation that security remains a sensitive issue, particularly with drivers. We recommend to always keep your drivers up-to-date as much as possible.

And since we are talking security… if you are using Windows Defender for your PC security, make sure you check for updates as well. A recent bug in Microsoft Defender can fill up the system driver of Windows 10 with thousands of files of varying sizes. A patch is available,m so check your Windows Defender version and update it if required. More details on the bug can be found here.

Entry Filed under: Driver News