Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This SAP dispatcher flaw can let an unauthenticated network attacker crash affected SAP NetWeaver ABAP or ABAP Platform systems. The reported impact is availability only: sources say attackers cannot view or modify data. For organizations relying on SAP for business operations, the main risk is outage of critical workflows.
Executive priority
Treat as high priority for critical SAP environments because an unauthenticated outage can disrupt business operations. It is less severe than a data breach vulnerability because cited sources report no confidentiality or integrity impact.
Technical view
CVE-2021-27628 affects SAP NetWeaver ABAP Server and ABAP Platform Dispatcher kernel variants. Improper input validation in DpRTmPrepareReq() can be triggered remotely with a specially crafted packet, causing an internal error and system crash. CVSS 3.0 is 7.5, network exploitable, low complexity, no privileges, no user interaction, availability high impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where affected SAP ABAP dispatcher services are reachable from untrusted, partner, or broad internal networks. Risk increases for older kernel lines listed in the CVE bundle and for systems supporting critical business processes with limited failover.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cited evidence of active exploitation. It supports unauthenticated remote denial of service, not data theft or modification. Exploitability is credible because the CVSS vector is network, low complexity, and no privileges required.
Researcher notes
Evidence is strong for remote unauthenticated denial of service and affected product families. The bundle does not include exploit-in-the-wild evidence, detailed fixed-version mapping, or compensating controls beyond SAP references, so remediation should be confirmed through SAP Note 3021197.
Mitigation direction
- Review SAP Note 3021197 and SAP vendor guidance for applicable remediation.
- Inventory SAP ABAP dispatcher kernel versions against the affected version list.
- Prioritize remediation for internet-facing or business-critical SAP systems.
- Restrict dispatcher network reachability to required trusted networks only.
- Monitor SAP availability, dispatcher crashes, and unexpected restarts.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether systems run listed KRNL32, KRNL64, or KERNEL versions.
- Check whether SAP Note 3021197 is applicable and implemented.
- Verify dispatcher services are not reachable from untrusted networks.
- Review operations logs for crashes, internal errors, or restart patterns.
- Validate business continuity plans for SAP availability loss.
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
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CWE-787: Exact CWE lookup
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Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-27628 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
- High
- CVSS
- 7.5 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
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:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H3.93.6Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
7.5HighVector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=578125999CVE reference
- https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/3021197CVE reference
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.