--- title: How HACKERS Bypass BIOS Password | daily.dev description: A walkthrough of three methods attackers use to bypass BIOS/UEFI passwords with physical access. Method one exploits volatile CMOS memory by removing the CMOS... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/how-hackers-bypass-bios-password-rgtuwoplw twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: How HACKERS Bypass BIOS Password | daily.dev og:description: A walkthrough of three methods attackers use to bypass BIOS/UEFI passwords with physical access. Method one exploits volatile CMOS memory by removing the CMOS... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/how-hackers-bypass-bios-password-rgtuwoplw og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/RgTuWoPlW.png og:image:alt: How HACKERS Bypass BIOS Password og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How HACKERS Bypass BIOS Password **[YouTube](https://daily.dev/sources/youtube)** · 8 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A walkthrough of three methods attackers use to bypass BIOS/UEFI passwords with physical access. Method one exploits volatile CMOS memory by removing the CMOS battery to wipe stored credentials. Method two leverages manufacturer algorithmic backdoors — fail-codes generated on lockout can be reversed to produce master passwords. Method three uses a cheap CH341A USB SPI programmer to directly read and rewrite the EEPROM chip containing firmware and NVRAM passwords. The key takeaway: physical access equals total access, and endpoint passwords alone are insufficient without full disk encryption and secure boot chains. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How do hackers bypass a BIOS or UEFI password with physical access to a laptop? Physical access defeats BIOS passwords through three main methods: removing the CMOS battery to reset volatile SRAM-stored passwords on older systems, using manufacturer backdoor algorithms that convert a lockout code (often derived from the serial number) into a master password, or using a cheap CH341A USB SPI programmer to directly dump and edit the firmware chip's NVRAM data, zeroing out the password hash or flashing a clean unlocked BIOS image. _Anyone hardening endpoint security against physical tampering can track firmware and BIOS security research on daily.dev._ ### Does removing the CMOS battery still reset the BIOS password on modern laptops? No, removing the CMOS battery only works on older systems that store the password in volatile SRAM powered by the 3.3V motherboard battery. Modern enterprise-grade laptops store credentials in non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) or dedicated security chips that retain data without continuous power, so pulling the battery for even ten years will not erase the stored password. _Developers securing device fleets can follow firmware security developments like this on daily.dev._ ### What tool is used to dump and reflash a laptop's SPI flash chip to remove a BIOS password? A CH341A USB programmer, costing about $10, is clamped directly onto the exposed pins of the motherboard's SPI flash chip (commonly Winbond or Macronix) to power it independently and dump its 8MB or 16MB firmware image using open-source software like NeoProgrammer. The password hash can then be zeroed out in a hex editor or the chip can be overwritten with a clean factory-unlocked BIOS file. _Security practitioners exploring hardware attack techniques can keep up with tools like this via daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Project Fail: Cracking A Laptop BIOS Password Using AI](https://daily.dev/posts/project-fail-cracking-a-laptop-bios-password-using-ai-0hddcopoa) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Your motherboard still has a reset button for a password almost nobody sets anymore](https://daily.dev/posts/your-motherboard-still-has-a-reset-button-for-a-password-almost-nobody-sets-anymore-k5royasj7) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Removing The BIOS Administrator Password On A ThinkPad Takes Timing](https://daily.dev/posts/removing-the-bios-administrator-password-on-a-thinkpad-takes-timing-72ynuvkqx) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [I fixed a dozen "dead" PCs with one motherboard trick that nobody talks about](https://daily.dev/posts/i-fixed-a-dozen-dead-pcs-with-one-motherboard-trick-that-nobody-talks-about-ub1qok96i) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#security](https://daily.dev/tags/security), [#firmware](https://daily.dev/tags/firmware) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/how-hackers-bypass-bios-password-rgtuwoplw) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"How HACKERS Bypass BIOS Password","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-hackers-bypass-bios-password-rgtuwoplw","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-hackers-bypass-bios-password-rgtuwoplw"},"datePublished":"2026-07-21T19:06:24.888Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T07:27:50.838Z","description":"A walkthrough of three methods attackers use to bypass BIOS/UEFI passwords with physical access. 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