# CVE-2021-22928: Privilege escalation in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

> Privilege escalation in Citrix Virtual Apps allows users to gain SYSTEM privileges on Windows VDAs with specific profile management plugins installed.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 5 Aug 2021
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-469p-6wj5-vcqr

## What is CVE-2021-22928?

CVE-2021-22928 is a high-severity vulnerability in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, published on 5 Aug 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability has been identified in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops that could, if exploited, allow a user of a Windows VDA that has either Citrix Profile Management or Citrix Profile Management WMI Plugin installed to escalate their privilege level on that Windows VDA to SYSTEM.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-22928?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, Citrix Xenapp, Citrix Xendesktop.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-22928?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-22928 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-22928 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-22928 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

- [CVE-2020-8283](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-8283/): Privilege escalation in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2020-8269](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-8269/): Privilege escalation in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2020-8270](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-8270/): Command injection in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2024-6151](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-6151/): Local Privilege escalation allows a low-privileged user to gain SYSTEM privileges (high 8.5)
- [CVE-2023-24483](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-24483/): Privilege Escalation to NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM on the vulnerable VDA (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-22928 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-22928 is a high-severity vulnerability in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, published on 5 Aug 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-2021-22928 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. 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-2021-22928/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-22928/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-22928
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-22928
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-22928

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-22928/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.