# CVE-2021-21083: Adobe Experience Manager broken access control in DSRPReindexServlet could lead to denial-of-service

> An unauthenticated attacker can cause a denial-of-service in Adobe Experience Manager due to improper access control in the DSRPReindexServlet.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 28 Jun 2021
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-mg45-vhfv-wcj4

## What is CVE-2021-21083?

CVE-2021-21083 is a high-severity missing authorization vulnerability in Adobe Experience Manager, published on 28 Jun 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

AEM's Cloud Service offering, as well as versions 6.5.7.0 (and below), 6.4.8.3 (and below) and 6.3.3.8 (and below) are affected by an Improper Access Control vulnerability. An unauthenticated attacker could leverage this vulnerability to cause an application denial-of-service in the context of the current user.

Weakness: CWE-284 (Improper Access Control)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-21083?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Adobe Experience Manager, Adobe Experience Manager Cloud Service.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-21083?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-21083 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-21083 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-21083 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Adobe Experience Manager

- [CVE-2026-90532](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-90532/): Adobe Experience Manager | Incorrect Authorization (CWE-863) (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2026-105895](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-105895/): Adobe Experience Manager | Improper Input Validation (CWE-20) (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2026-19232](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-19232/): Adobe Experience Manager | Incorrect Authorization (CWE-863) (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2025-49533](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49533/): Adobe Experience Manager (MS) | Deserialization of Untrusted Data (CWE-502) (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-40722](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-40722/): AEM Forms Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-21083 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-21083 is a high-severity missing authorization vulnerability in Adobe Experience Manager, published on 28 Jun 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-21083 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Adobe Experience 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-2021-21083/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-21083/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-21083
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-21083
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-21083

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-21083/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.