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CVE Record

CVE-2021-1589: Cisco SD-WAN vManage Software Disaster Recovery Feature Password Exposure Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the disaster recovery feature of Cisco SD-WAN vManage Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to gain unauthorized access to user credentials. This vulnerability exists because access to API endpoints is not properly restricted. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a request to an API endpoint. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to gain unauthorized access to administrative credentials that could be used in further attacks.

MediumCVSS 6.5Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysismoderate

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

Cisco SD-WAN vManage could expose administrative credentials through improperly restricted disaster recovery API endpoints. The attacker must already be authenticated, but successful access could enable further compromise using stolen admin credentials.

Executive priority

Treat as a moderate-priority credential exposure risk. It is not unauthenticated, but leaked admin credentials could materially increase breach impact in SD-WAN management environments.

Technical view

CVE-2021-1589 is a CWE-256 password exposure issue in Cisco SD-WAN vManage disaster recovery functionality. Improper API endpoint restrictions allow an authenticated remote attacker to request access to administrative credentials. CVSS 3.1 is 6.5, with high confidentiality impact and no integrity or availability impact stated.

Likely exposure

Exposure is limited to organizations running Cisco SD-WAN vManage where vulnerable disaster recovery API endpoints are reachable by authenticated users. The source bundle does not identify affected or fixed versions.

Exploitation context

The source bundle says exploitation requires authenticated remote access and an API request. It does not provide evidence of public exploitation, and the CVE is not listed as KEV in the supplied data.

Researcher notes

Version and remediation details are incomplete in the provided bundle. Focus validation on vManage disaster recovery API authorization boundaries and credential exposure paths, without assuming exploit availability beyond the authenticated request condition.

Mitigation direction

  • Review Cisco advisory for affected releases, fixed versions, and vendor-approved workarounds.
  • Restrict vManage and API access to trusted administrative users and networks.
  • Audit vManage accounts and remove unnecessary privileges.
  • Rotate administrative credentials if logs suggest unauthorized credential access.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory Cisco SD-WAN vManage deployments and disaster recovery usage.
  • Compare installed versions against the Cisco advisory.
  • Review vManage API logs for unusual authenticated access patterns.
  • Confirm administrative credentials are not exposed to unauthorized authenticated users.
  • Document remediation status and residual version uncertainty.
Prepared
Confidence
medium
Sources
3

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.

ATT&CK lookup starting points

Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.

cwe · low confidence lookup

CWE-256: Exact CWE lookup

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description · low confidence lookup

Credential and access behavior lookup

The CVE wording references authentication or credential exposure, so valid-account and credential-access review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.

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cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2021-1589 mapping review

Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Medium
CVSS
6.5 (3.1)
Known Exploited
No
Published

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

1CVSS vectors
0Timeline events
0ADP providers
2Source links

CVSS vector scores

1 official score

We collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.

ScoreVersionSeverityVectorExploitImpactSource
6.5CVSS 3.1MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N2.83.6Primary CVE score

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.1 score

6.5Medium
CVSS 3.1 vector shape for CVE-2021-1589Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector
NetworkAdjacentLocalPhysical
Attack Complexity
LowHigh
Privileges Required
NoneLowHigh
User Interaction
NoneRequired
Scope
ChangedUnchanged
Confidentiality Impact
HighLowNone
Integrity Impact
HighLowNone
Availability Impact
HighLowNone

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
CiscoCisco SD-WAN vManagen/aListed
Weakness

CWE details

CWE-256

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.

CWE-256 · source CWE mapping

Plaintext Storage of a Password

Plaintext Storage of a Password represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.

Open CWE intelligenceSame-CWE CVEs