Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-21435 is an information disclosure flaw in OTRS PDF ticket printing. A customer using the external interface could see Article Bcc fields and agent personal information in a printed ticket PDF, exposing confidential internal data that should not be visible to customers.
Executive priority
Treat this as a confidentiality issue with moderate urgency. It is not described as actively exploited, but affected helpdesk systems may leak internal recipients and staff personal data to customers through normal PDF export behavior.
Technical view
Affected OTRS 7.0.x through 7.0.23 and 8.0.x through 8.0.10 expose Article Bcc and agent personal information during customer PDF export through the external interface. CVSS 3.1 is 5.7, with network access, low complexity, low privileges, and user interaction required; confidentiality impact is high.
Likely exposure
Organizations running affected OTRS 7.0.x or 8.0.x versions with customer-facing external ticket PDF printing enabled are the likely exposure group.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show active exploitation, and this CVE is not listed as KEV. Abuse requires an authenticated or privileged customer-side context and interaction with ticket PDF printing, based on the CVSS privileges and user-interaction metrics.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to CVE and vendor advisory metadata. The key validation path is version inventory plus confirming PDF export field behavior. Do not assume other OTRS versions, forks, or products are affected without vendor evidence.
Mitigation direction
- Identify any OTRS 7.0.x or 8.0.x deployments.
- Upgrade beyond the affected OTRS version ranges using vendor guidance.
- Review the OTRS security advisory before changing production systems.
- Limit customer PDF export exposure where operationally feasible.
- Review handling of previously exported ticket PDFs containing sensitive data.
Validation and detection
- Confirm deployed OTRS versions are not 7.0.23 or earlier, or 8.0.10 or earlier.
- Verify customer ticket PDF exports no longer include Bcc fields.
- Verify customer ticket PDF exports no longer include agent personal information.
- Check whether exposed PDFs were generated or shared externally before remediation.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
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-200: Information exposure and cloud metadata lookup
Information exposure and SSRF weaknesses can make discovery, cloud metadata, and credential material review relevant. 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.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-21435 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 5.7 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe 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.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N2.13.6Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
5.7MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://otrs.com/release-notes/otrs-security-advisory-2021-02/CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.