Gigabyte Technology—Security researchers discovered firmware backdoor in 271 Gigabyte motherboard models affecting ~7 million devices
In May 2023, Eclypsium researchers discovered that 271 Gigabyte motherboard models contained a hidden UEFI firmware mechanism that dropped a Windows executable to download and execute payloads insecurely. The updater used unencrypted HTTP connections without proper authentication, making man-in-the-middle attacks possible. Approximately 7 million devices were affected. Gigabyte released BIOS updates with signature verification.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer Protection | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| User Privacy | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.443 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.59)× agency (negligent ×0.5)
Evidence (1 signal)
Eclypsium published report on Gigabyte motherboard firmware backdoor affecting 271 models
Eclypsium Research discovered and documented a hidden firmware backdoor in 271 Gigabyte motherboard models that downloaded and executed payloads over insecure HTTP connections without authentication, affecting approximately 7 million devices.