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CVE Record

CVE-2021-1617: Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance Vulnerabilities

Multiple vulnerabilities in the web-based management interface of Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to conduct a path traversal or command injection attack on an affected system. These vulnerabilities are due to insufficient input validation. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by using the web-based management interface to do one or both of the following: Execute a command using crafted input Upload a file that has been altered using path traversal techniques A successful exploit could allow the attacker to read and write arbitrary files or execute arbitrary commands as root on an affected system. For more information about these vulnerabilities, see the Details section of this advisory.

MediumCVSS 6.5Not KEV-listedUpdated
Glexia's TakeAutomated analysismoderate

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

CVE-2021-1617 affects Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance management software. A highly privileged authenticated remote user could abuse weak input validation in the web interface to read or write arbitrary files or run commands as root. The business risk is concentrated where appliance administration is broadly accessible or credentials are compromised.

Executive priority

Treat this as a prioritized administrative-plane issue, not a broad internet-wide emergency based on the provided evidence. Escalate if the appliance is externally reachable, shared among many administrators, or privileged credentials may be compromised.

Technical view

Cisco describes path traversal and command injection issues in the web-based management interface. The CVSS 3.1 vector is AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N, scoring 6.5. Exploitation requires high privileges but can produce root-level command execution or arbitrary file access.

Likely exposure

Exposure is limited to organizations running Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance. The source bundle does not identify affected version numbers, so teams must compare deployed appliance versions against Cisco's advisory and any current vendor guidance.

Exploitation context

The provided sources do not indicate CISA KEV listing or active exploitation. Exploitation requires authenticated high-privilege access to the management interface, but successful exploitation has high confidentiality and integrity impact.

Researcher notes

The key constraints are high required privileges and management-interface access. The key impact is root-level command execution or arbitrary file read/write. The source bundle does not provide affected version ranges, patch identifiers, exploit details, or vendor workarounds.

Mitigation direction

  • Review Cisco's advisory for affected and fixed release guidance.
  • Upgrade or remediate according to Cisco's published instructions.
  • Restrict access to the appliance management interface.
  • Limit privileged appliance accounts to required administrators only.
  • Monitor administrative activity for unexpected file changes or command execution.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory all Cisco Intersight Virtual Appliance deployments.
  • Confirm deployed versions against Cisco advisory guidance.
  • Verify management access is restricted to approved networks and administrators.
  • Review privileged account lists and recent authentication activity.
  • Check logs for unexpected administrative file operations or system command activity.
Prepared
Confidence
medium
Sources
3

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-36: Exact CWE lookup

Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.

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description · low confidence lookup

Execution behavior lookup

The CVE wording references code or command execution, so execution technique review may help defensive triage. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.

Open ATT&CK lookup
description · low confidence lookup

File access behavior lookup

The CVE wording references file access or upload behavior, so file telemetry and web shell review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.

Open ATT&CK lookup
cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2021-1617 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:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N1.25.2Primary CVE score

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.1 score

6.5Medium
CVSS 3.1 vector shape for CVE-2021-1617Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 Intersight Virtual Appliancen/aListed
Weakness

CWE details

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

CWE-36 · source CWE mapping

Absolute Path Traversal

Absolute Path Traversal represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.