Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Certain Weidmüller industrial WLAN devices can let a low-privileged authenticated user overwrite another account password through account settings. That could give the attacker remote shell access as that user. The issue is high severity because compromise can affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability of industrial network devices.
Executive priority
Treat this as a high-priority industrial network exposure issue. It needs timely asset identification, management-plane access review, and vendor remediation tracking, but the provided sources do not support emergency active-exploitation claims.
Technical view
CVE-2021-33538 is an improper access control issue in the iw_webs account settings functionality. A specially crafted username entry can overwrite an existing account password. The CVSS v3.1 score is 8.8, with network access, low attack complexity, and low privileges required.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where listed Weidmüller IE-WL(T)-BL-AP-CL-XX or IE-WL(T)-VL-AP-CL-XX industrial WLAN devices are reachable by users with low-privileged accounts, especially on management networks.
Exploitation context
The source says exploitation requires authenticated low-privilege access and can lead to remote shell access as the affected user. KEV status is false, and the provided sources do not state active exploitation or public exploit availability.
Researcher notes
Key unknowns are affected firmware ranges, fixed versions, and vendor-specific mitigations; the provided bundle lists affected device variants but not remediation details. Validation should focus on asset matching, privilege boundaries, and management interface exposure.
Mitigation direction
- Check Weidmüller/VDE advisory VDE-2021-026 for vendor-confirmed fixes or mitigations.
- Inventory affected Weidmüller WLAN device part numbers and deployed firmware versions.
- Restrict device management access to trusted administration networks only.
- Review low-privileged accounts and remove access that is not operationally required.
- Monitor vendor channels for updated firmware or revised remediation guidance.
Validation and detection
- Identify deployed IE-WL(T)-BL-AP-CL-XX and IE-WL(T)-VL-AP-CL-XX devices.
- Compare device part numbers against the affected models listed in the CVE source bundle.
- Confirm whether low-privileged users can reach account settings interfaces.
- Review account changes for unexpected password resets or privilege anomalies.
- Avoid production exploit testing; validate through configuration and vendor guidance.
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-269: Authorization and privilege behavior lookup
Authorization weaknesses can support privilege escalation and valid-account review, depending on exploit path. 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 lookupCredential and access behavior lookup
The CVE wording references authentication or credential exposure, so valid-account and credential-access review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-33538 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
- 8.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H2.85.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
8.8HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://cert.vde.com/en-us/advisories/vde-2021-026CVE 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.
Improper Privilege Management
Improper Privilege Management represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.