# CVE-2021-1447: Cisco Content Security Management Appliance Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

> An authenticated local attacker with Administrator credentials can exploit a password generation flaw to escalate privileges to root and execute arbitrary commands.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 6 May 2021
- **Updated:** 8 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-mvqh-q454-4f7x

## What is CVE-2021-1447?

CVE-2021-1447 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Content Security Management Appliance (SMA), published on 6 May 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the user account management system of Cisco AsyncOS for Cisco Content Security Management Appliance (SMA) could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate their privileges to root. This vulnerability is due to a procedural flaw in the password generation algorithm. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by enabling specific Administrator-only features and connecting to the appliance through the CLI with elevated privileges. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root and access the underlying operating system. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have valid Administrator credentials.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-1447?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Content Security Management Appliance.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-1447?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-1447 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-1447 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-1447 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Content Security Management Appliance (SMA)

- [CVE-2014-2119](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-2119/): File upload in n/a (high 8.5)
- [CVE-2015-6321](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-6321/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2013-5537](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-5537/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2016-2183](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-2183/): Weak cryptography in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2013-3395](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-3395/): Cross-site request forgery in n/a (medium 6.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-1447 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-1447 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Content Security Management Appliance (SMA), published on 6 May 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-1447 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Content Security Management Appliance (SMA). No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-1447/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-1447/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-1447
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-1447
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-1447

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-1447/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.