What is CVE-2015-6856?

CVE-2015-6856 is a high-severity vulnerability in Dell Pre-Boot Authentication Driver, classified under CWE-264. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2016-01-08.

How severe is CVE-2015-6856?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.

Vulnerability in Dell Pre-Boot Authentication Driver

CVE-2015-6856

Dell Pre-Boot Authentication Driver (PBADRV.sys) 1.0.1.5 allows local users to write to arbitrary physical memory locations and gain privileges via a 0x0022201c IOCTL call.

Published 2016-01-08 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.005 (42.1th percentile), scored 2026-10-02.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 42nd percentile — 42.1% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.005 · newest: 0.005 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Dell Pre-Boot Authentication Driver — versions 1.0.1.5

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-264

References

www.korelogic.com/Resources/Advisories/KL-001-2015-008.txt (Exploit)
packetstormsecurity.com/files/134987/Dell-Authentication-Driver-Uncontrolled-Wr… (Exploit)
www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/537161/100/0/threaded (mailing-list)
www.securityfocus.com/bid/79643 (vdb-entry)
seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2015/Dec/81 (mailing-list, Exploit)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2015-6856?: CVE-2015-6856 is a high-severity vulnerability in Dell Pre-Boot Authentication Driver, classified under CWE-264. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2016-01-08.
How severe is CVE-2015-6856?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.