Breaking the BIOS security on the Lenovo v130-14ikb 81HQ

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Hey! Today, I'd like to tackle a topic I usually don't speak about online, and that is breaking security. Believe it or not, I actually like to break the security on many different devices, be it smartphones or computers. Now, the device I wanna tackle today is one of which the BIOS security I had originally been trying to crack over the past 3 months, and that device is the Lenovo v130-14ikb 81HQ laptop, released on January 16th 2019. 

This laptop was heralded as being many things, "An IT Admin's Dream" being a good example. The main selling point of this laptop is the security, and it seemed to the user (who would have had this laptop provided to them by an organisation) that this thing is essentially the Fort Knox of laptops, but if you have read the title of this blog, you probably might know where this is going.

First off, have a look at this photo of the motherboard out of one of these laptops:

Credits: Kendari Computer

If you have a look at the motherboard from a distance, it doesn't seem as if anything is out of the ordinary. You have your RAM (Random Access Memory), CPU (Central Processor Unit), CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) battery, WiFi card, and the copper used for the cooling fan. However, there are 2 pads on this motherboard that control the BIOS locking. I have highlighted them below:


The pads I have drawn a circle around control whether debugging mode is turned on or off. This doesn't sound like an awful lot at first, but when you remove the bottom cover, there are some spikes on it around where those pads are. They act as a bridge to keep debug mode disabled. On paper, this sounds amazing, and makes it easier for administrators or Lenovo to debug a laptop if something goes wrong, but as it turns out, when you take off the bottom cover, turn the laptop on and spam press F2 before Windows loads, it grants you immediate access to the InsydeH20 BIOS setup, and from there, you can load setup defaults (which clears any settings or passwords on the BIOS), and then it's essentially game over for your IT admins. Yep, all of that security advertising, and they forgot to patch out debug mode.

Now, do I recommend anyone do this? If you own the laptop and/or have been given permission to wipe it, yes, considering this is very useful for BIOS locked units. Otherwise, don't, as doing so may break your IT Acceptable Usage Policy and result in you getting fired or excluded from your organisation or school respectively. 

But at the helm, should you want to do so, follow these instructions:
  1. Remove the bottom cover of the laptop
  2. Plug the laptop into power, and face the back of the lid down onto your work surface
  3. Power the laptop back on, and spam-press F2 (this should load you into the BIOS)
  4. Scroll over to "Save and Exit"
  5. Scroll down to "Load Setup Defaults" and press enter
  6. Press yes on any dialog boxes
  7. Save and Exit (this will reboot the laptop)
  8. Shut the laptop off by pressing the power button for 10 seconds
  9. Put the bottom cover back on
  10. Boot back to the BIOS by spam-pressing F2
If you did all of those steps correctly, your laptop's BIOS should now be unlocked! Thanks for reading! InternetRalsei out!

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