Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This flaw can let an unauthenticated remote attacker make the Cisco IMC web management interface restart. It affects availability of the management GUI, not server workloads directly, based on the provided sources. Business impact is mainly loss or interruption of remote administration during an incident or maintenance window.
Executive priority
Treat this as a moderate operational resilience issue. It does not indicate data theft or server compromise in the provided evidence, but it can disrupt remote management. Prioritize faster where exposed management interfaces support critical systems.
Technical view
CVE-2021-34736 is an insufficient input validation issue in Cisco IMC Software's web-based management interface. Crafted HTTP input can trigger an unexpected restart of that interface, causing a DoS condition. CVSS 3.1 is 5.3 with network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges, no user interaction, and low availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most relevant where Cisco Unified Computing System managed environments run Cisco IMC and the web management interface is reachable over a network. The bundle does not provide exact affected versions, fixed releases, or internet exposure evidence.
Exploitation context
The source bundle describes remote unauthenticated exploitation by crafted HTTP request, but provides no exploit code. CISA KEV status is false, and the provided sources do not support claims of active exploitation.
Researcher notes
Evidence is adequate for vulnerability class, impact, and attack prerequisites. It is incomplete for exact version ranges, fixed releases, and workarounds in the supplied bundle. Avoid asserting active exploitation or broad product impact without additional Cisco advisory details.
Mitigation direction
- Review the Cisco advisory for affected releases and vendor-approved updates.
- Inventory Cisco IMC deployments and identify exposed web management interfaces.
- Limit IMC web management access to trusted administrative networks.
- Prioritize remediation for critical infrastructure management paths.
- Monitor vendor guidance if fixed-release details are missing internally.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether Cisco IMC is present in UCS managed environments.
- Compare deployed versions against the Cisco advisory.
- Check whether IMC web management is reachable from untrusted networks.
- Review monitoring for unexpected IMC GUI restarts or management outages.
- Document compensating access controls around the management interface.
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-20: Exact CWE lookup
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Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-34736 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
- Medium
- CVSS
- 5.3 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
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:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L3.91.4Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
5.3MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- 20211020 Cisco Integrated Management Controller GUI Denial of Service VulnerabilityCVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_CISCO
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 Input Validation
Improper Input Validation represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.