Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This vulnerability lets an already authenticated, low-privileged user on an affected Linux system gain elevated privileges. Successful exploitation could expose sensitive data, permit unauthorized changes, and disrupt services. CISA lists it as known exploited, making prompt investigation and remediation appropriate.
Executive priority
Treat as a high-priority remediation item because exploitation is documented and successful abuse can fully compromise system confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Prioritize exposed or multi-user Linux hosts, while using Microsoft’s advisory to establish exact applicability.
Technical view
CVE-2021-38645 is a local elevation-of-privilege flaw in Microsoft Open Management Infrastructure and associated Azure management or monitoring integrations. CVSS 3.1 rates it 7.8: local access, low complexity, low privileges, no user interaction, unchanged scope, and high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
Likely exposure
Potential exposure exists on Linux systems running affected OMI components or listed Microsoft Azure management, monitoring, security, diagnostics, automation, or SCOM integrations. The bundle does not provide enough build-level detail to determine exposure from product names alone.
Exploitation context
CISA KEV inclusion confirms exploitation has occurred. The CVSS vector indicates exploitation requires local access and existing low privileges, with no user interaction. The supplied evidence does not describe current campaign activity, exploitation frequency, or specific attacker behavior.
Researcher notes
The bundle supplies no CWE, vulnerable function, root cause, fixed-version details, or exploit-chain evidence. Product version entries may describe integrations rather than precise vulnerable OMI builds. Researchers should rely on Microsoft’s advisory for build-level scope and avoid inferring exposure solely from this list.
Mitigation direction
- Apply Microsoft’s update for CVE-2021-38645 according to the vendor advisory.
- Review Microsoft guidance for affected OMI builds and Azure extension versions.
- Prioritize systems where untrusted or broadly accessible local accounts exist.
- Restrict unnecessary local access until remediation is verified.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Linux hosts for OMI and the listed Microsoft integrations.
- Compare installed component versions with Microsoft’s current CVE advisory.
- Confirm the applicable security update is installed across affected systems.
- Review security telemetry for unexpected privilege elevation on exposed hosts.
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.
Privilege behavior lookup
The CVE wording references privilege impact, so privilege escalation and authorization behavior review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupContainer behavior lookup
The affected technology mentions containers, so container-specific ATT&CK technique review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-38645 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
- 7.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- Yes
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C
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.
CISA KEV status
SSVC decision data
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:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C1.85.9microsoftVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.8HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- Added to KEVCISA-ADP
CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities metadata lists this CVE as known exploited.
- ADP timelineCISA-ADP
CVE-2021-38645 added to CISA KEV
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
- 2021-11-03T00:00:00.000Z: CVE-2021-38645 added to CISA KEV
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- Open Management Infrastructure Elevation of Privilege VulnerabilityCVE reference, microsoft · vendor-advisory, patch
- https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2021-38645CVE reference, CVE · x_refsource_MISC, x_transferred
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-38645CVE reference, CISA-ADP · government-resource
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.