Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Dell EMC CloudLink 7.1 and earlier include a hard-coded password weakness. An attacker who already has high privileges and knows the embedded credential could gain unauthorized system access. The business concern is serious because compromise could affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability of CloudLink-managed environments.
Executive priority
Treat as urgent for any environment using CloudLink 7.1 or earlier, especially where CloudLink protects sensitive infrastructure. Prioritize inventory and vendor-guided remediation before deploy or audit milestones.
Technical view
CVE-2021-36312 is a CWE-259 hard-coded password vulnerability in Dell EMC CloudLink 7.1 and prior. CVSS 3.1 is 9.1, network-reachable, low complexity, no user interaction, high privileges required, changed scope, and high CIA impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to organizations running Dell EMC CloudLink 7.1 or earlier. The source bundle does not identify specific deployment modes, default exposure, or CPEs.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or confirmed active exploitation. Exploitation requires a remote high-privileged attacker with knowledge of the hard-coded credentials, according to the CVE description.
Researcher notes
Evidence is sparse beyond the CVE record and Dell reference. Do not assume public exploit availability, affected subcomponents, or a specific patch version unless confirmed by Dell advisory content.
Mitigation direction
- Identify all Dell EMC CloudLink deployments and versions.
- Review Dell advisory guidance for fixed versions or supported remediation.
- Prioritize upgrade, vendor remediation, or decommissioning for CloudLink 7.1 and earlier.
- Restrict CloudLink administrative access to trusted management networks.
- Review privileged account access until remediation is complete.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether CloudLink 7.1 or earlier exists in asset inventory.
- Verify CloudLink version details from approved administrative records.
- Review recent privileged access for unexpected CloudLink activity.
- Check whether CloudLink management interfaces are broadly reachable.
- Document remediation status against Dell 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-259: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. 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-2021-36312 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
- Critical
- CVSS
- 9.1 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/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:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H2.36Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
9.1CriticalVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000193031/https-dellservices-lightning-force-com-one-one-appCVE 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.
Use of Hard-coded Password
Use of Hard-coded Password represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.