Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This is a low-severity issue in Dell EMC iDRAC9 before 4.40.00.00. It requires a remote attacker who is already authenticated with high privileges. The impact described is limited: manipulating a username value in a comment section so it can appear as any user.
Executive priority
Treat this as routine remediation, not an emergency. Prioritize patching during normal firmware maintenance, with higher priority for internet-reachable or broadly accessible iDRAC management interfaces.
Technical view
CVE-2021-21544 is an improper authentication issue, mapped to CWE-602, affecting Dell EMC iDRAC9 versions prior to 4.40.00.00. CVSS 3.1 is 2.7: network reachable, low complexity, high privileges required, no user interaction, and limited integrity impact only.
Likely exposure
Organizations running Dell EMC iDRAC9 firmware earlier than 4.40.00.00 are potentially exposed, especially where iDRAC management access is reachable by many administrators or broader networks.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show active exploitation, and the CVE is not listed as KEV. Exploitation requires high-privileged authenticated access, so the realistic concern is privileged misuse or abuse after account compromise.
Researcher notes
The source bundle describes only limited integrity impact through manipulation of a username field in comments. It does not provide public exploit evidence, detailed affected model lists, or additional mitigations beyond vendor guidance.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Dell EMC iDRAC9 to version 4.40.00.00 or later.
- Review Dell advisory 000185293 for affected platform-specific guidance.
- Restrict iDRAC access to trusted management networks or VPNs.
- Limit and audit high-privilege iDRAC administrator accounts.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Dell EMC iDRAC9 firmware versions across managed servers.
- Flag any iDRAC9 instance running earlier than 4.40.00.00.
- Confirm iDRAC interfaces are not exposed to untrusted networks.
- Review privileged iDRAC account membership and recent administrative activity.
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-602: Exact CWE lookup
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Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-21544 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
- Low
- CVSS
- 2.7 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/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:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N1.21.4Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
2.7LowVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/000185293CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
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.
Client-Side Enforcement of Server-Side Security
Client-Side Enforcement of Server-Side Security represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.