# CVE-2021-1489: Cisco Firepower Device Manager Software Filesystem Space Exhaustion Denial of Service Vulnerability

> An authenticated remote attacker can exhaust filesystem resources by uploading files, causing a denial of service on Cisco Firepower Device Manager.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.9 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 29 Apr 2021
- **Updated:** 8 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-8r35-6q65-m8qm

## What is CVE-2021-1489?

CVE-2021-1489 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software, published on 29 Apr 2021. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in filesystem usage management for Cisco Firepower Device Manager (FDM) Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to exhaust filesystem resources, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to the insufficient management of available filesystem resources. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by uploading files to the device and exhausting available filesystem resources. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause database errors and cause the device to become unresponsive to web-based management. Manual intervention is required to free filesystem resources and return the device to an operational state.

Weakness: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-1489?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Firepower Device Manager.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-1489?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-1489 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-1489 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-1489 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software

- [CVE-2021-1369](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-1369/): Cisco Firepower Device Manager On-Box Software XML External Entity Vulnerability (medium 5.4)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-1489 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-1489 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software, published on 29 Apr 2021. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-1489 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software. 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-2021-1489/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-1489/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-1489
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-1489
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-1489

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-1489/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.