# CVE-2021-1491: Cisco SD-WAN vManage Software Information Disclosure Vulnerability

> An authenticated attacker can read arbitrary files on the underlying operating system via the web management interface.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N/E:X/RL:X/RC:X`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 15 Nov 2024
- **Updated:** 15 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-4fp3-wrmc-3g2x

## What is CVE-2021-1491?

CVE-2021-1491 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Cisco Catalyst Sd-Wan Manager, published on 15 Nov 2024. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco SD-WAN vManage Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to read arbitrary files on the underlying file system of the device.
This vulnerability is due to insufficient file scope limiting. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by creating a specific file reference on the file system and then accessing it through the web-based management interface. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to read arbitrary files from the file system of the underlying operating system.Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.

Weakness: CWE-59 (Improper Link Resolution Before File Access)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-1491?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Catalyst Sd-Wan Manager.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-1491?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-1491 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-1491 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-1491 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Catalyst Sd-Wan Manager

- [CVE-2026-20182](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-20182/): Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller Authentication Bypass (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-20127](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-20127/): Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller and Manager Authentication Bypass (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-76504](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-76504/): Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Hex Encoding (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-20245](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-20245/): Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Improper Encoding or Escaping of Output (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-20775](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20775/): Cisco SD-WAN Path Traversal (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-1491 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-1491 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Cisco Catalyst Sd-Wan Manager, published on 15 Nov 2024. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-1491 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Catalyst Sd-Wan Manager. 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-2021-1491/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-1491/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-1491
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-1491
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-1491

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-1491/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.