# CVE-2021-21547: Hardcoded credentials in Unity

> A local high-privilege user can access plain-text administrator credentials stored by the Upgrade Readiness Utility, leading to account takeover.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.4 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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:** 30 Apr 2021
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-9qwc-8pqf-mrxv

## What is CVE-2021-21547?

CVE-2021-21547 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Dell Unity Operating Environment, published on 30 Apr 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Dell EMC Unity, UnityVSA, and Unity XT versions prior to 5.0.7.0.5.008 contain a plain-text password storage vulnerability when the Dell Upgrade Readiness Utility is run on the system. The credentials of the Unisphere Administrator are stored in plain text. A local malicious user with high privileges may use the exposed password to gain access with the privileges of the compromised user.

Weakness: CWE-312 (Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-21547?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Dell Unity Operating Environment, Dell Unity Xt Operating Environment, Dell Unityvsa Operating Environment.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-21547?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-21547 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-21547 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-21547 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Dell Unity Operating Environment

- [CVE-2025-22398](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-22398/): Command injection in Unity (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2025-24383](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-24383/): Command injection in Unity (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2025-24381](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-24381/): Open redirect in Unity (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-43082](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-43082/): Security feature bypass in Unity (high 8.6)
- [CVE-2022-29084](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-29084/): Auth bypass in Unity (high 8.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-21547 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-21547 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Dell Unity Operating Environment, published on 30 Apr 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-2021-21547 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Dell Unity Operating Environment. 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-2021-21547/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-21547/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-21547
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-21547
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-21547

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-21547/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.