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CVE Record

CVE-2021-2221: Vulnerability in the Oracle Secure Global Desktop product of Oracle Virtualization (component: Client).

Vulnerability in the Oracle Secure Global Desktop product of Oracle Virtualization (component: Client). The supported version that is affected is 5.6. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows unauthenticated attacker with network access via multiple protocols to compromise Oracle Secure Global Desktop. Successful attacks require human interaction from a person other than the attacker and while the vulnerability is in Oracle Secure Global Desktop, attacks may significantly impact additional products. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in takeover of Oracle Secure Global Desktop.

CriticalCVSS 9.6Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysiscritical

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

Oracle Secure Global Desktop 5.6 has a critical client-side vulnerability that can let an unauthenticated network attacker take over the product if a separate user interacts with the attack. The business risk is high because compromise may affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability, and the impact can extend beyond the product itself.

Executive priority

Treat this as urgent for any environment still running Oracle Secure Global Desktop 5.6. The severity is critical, takeover is possible, and user interaction lowers but does not remove business risk.

Technical view

CVE-2021-2221 affects Oracle Secure Global Desktop 5.6, component Client. CVSS 3.1 is 9.6 with network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges, required user interaction, changed scope, and high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact. The public bundle does not provide CWE, root cause, or protocol-specific detail.

Likely exposure

Exposure is most likely where Oracle Secure Global Desktop 5.6 clients or related deployment components remain in use and reachable over network paths. Human interaction is required, so user-facing workflows and externally reachable access paths deserve priority review.

Exploitation context

The CVE record says exploitation is easy, unauthenticated, network-accessible via multiple protocols, and requires human interaction. The supplied data says this CVE is not in KEV and provides no cited evidence of active exploitation.

Researcher notes

The public bundle lacks CWE, root cause, affected build granularity, and exploit telemetry. Avoid PoC-driven validation; rely on version confirmation, Oracle advisory mapping, exposure analysis, and patch verification.

Mitigation direction

  • Review Oracle's April 2021 CPU guidance for CVE-2021-2221.
  • Apply the vendor-provided update or remediation for affected Secure Global Desktop 5.6 systems.
  • Reduce network reachability to affected SGD components where operationally feasible.
  • Prioritize user awareness for suspicious SGD-related prompts, links, or files.
  • Retire or upgrade unsupported or unnecessary SGD 5.6 deployments.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory Oracle Secure Global Desktop deployments and confirm any version 5.6 presence.
  • Map each instance to Oracle's April 2021 CPU patch status.
  • Confirm affected clients are not exposed to untrusted network paths unnecessarily.
  • Review recent security logs for unusual SGD access or takeover indicators.
  • Document any unpatched systems, owners, and compensating controls.
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

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CVE-2021-2221 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
Critical
CVSS
9.6 (3.1)
Known Exploited
No
Published

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

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
9.6CVSS 3.1CriticalCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H2.86Primary CVE score

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.1 score

9.6Critical
CVSS 3.1 vector shape for CVE-2021-2221Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

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

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
Oracle CorporationSecure Global Desktop5.6Listed
Weakness

CWE details

No CWE listed

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