LiveActive security incident?Get immediate response
CVE Record

CVE-2021-21529: Dell System Update (DSU) 1.9 and earlier versions contain a denial of service vulnerability.

Dell System Update (DSU) 1.9 and earlier versions contain a denial of service vulnerability. A local authenticated malicious user with low privileges may potentially exploit this vulnerability to cause the system to run out of memory by running multiple instances of the vulnerable application.

LowCVSS 3.8Not KEV-listedUpdated
Discuss exposureBack to CVEs
Glexia's TakeAutomated analysislow

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

This is a local denial-of-service issue in Dell System Update. A signed-in low-privileged user could cause memory exhaustion by launching multiple vulnerable DSU instances. It does not indicate data theft or privilege escalation, but affected systems could become unstable or unavailable.

Executive priority

Treat as low priority unless affected DSU installations exist on shared or business-critical systems. Remediate through normal endpoint maintenance, but avoid ignoring it where local users can affect server availability.

Technical view

DellEMC System Update 1.9 and earlier has a CWE-400 uncontrolled resource consumption flaw. The CVSS 3.1 vector is AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:L, scoring 3.8. Impact is limited to availability and requires local authenticated access.

Likely exposure

Systems with DellEMC System Update 1.9 or earlier installed are potentially exposed, especially shared servers, admin workstations, or endpoints where non-admin local users can run DSU. The bundle does not identify specific platforms or CPEs.

Exploitation context

The source bundle reports no CISA KEV listing and provides no evidence of active exploitation. Exploitation requires a local authenticated low-privileged user and repeated application launches; no remote attack path is described.

Researcher notes

Evidence supports a local authenticated availability-only flaw. The provided sources do not name a fixed version, affected operating systems, public exploit activity, or detailed indicators. Avoid assuming broader Dell tooling exposure beyond DellEMC System Update.

Mitigation direction

  • Review Dell advisory DSA-2021-059 for the vendor-approved DSU update path.
  • Update DellEMC System Update where DSU 1.9 or earlier is installed.
  • Limit DSU execution to trusted administrative users where practical.
  • Monitor affected hosts for abnormal DSU process counts and memory pressure.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory endpoints and servers for DellEMC System Update versions.
  • Flag DSU 1.9 and earlier for remediation tracking.
  • Confirm vendor guidance has been applied on affected systems.
  • Review endpoint telemetry for repeated DSU launches or memory exhaustion events.
Prepared
Confidence
high
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-400: 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.

Open ATT&CK lookup
cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2021-21529 mapping review

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

Open ATT&CK lookup
Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Low
CVSS
3.8 (3.1)
Known Exploited
No
Published

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

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
3.8CVSS 3.1LowCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:L21.4Primary CVE score

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.1 score

3.8Low
CVSS 3.1 vector shape for CVE-2021-21529Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

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

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
DellDellEMC System Update - DSUunspecifiedListed
Weakness

CWE details

CWE-400

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

CWE-400 · source CWE mapping

Uncontrolled Resource Consumption

Uncontrolled Resource Consumption represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.

Open CWE intelligenceSame-CWE CVEs