# CVE-2021-29108: Auth bypass in Portal for ArcGIS

> Authenticated attackers can escalate privileges and impersonate accounts by modifying SAML assertions in Esri Portal for ArcGIS.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 1 Oct 2021
- **Updated:** 10 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-249c-5cfq-cwqh

## What is CVE-2021-29108?

CVE-2021-29108 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Esri Portal for Arcgis, published on 1 Oct 2021. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

There is an privilege escalation vulnerability in organization-specific logins in Esri Portal for ArcGIS versions 10.9 and below that may allow a remote, authenticated attacker who is able to intercept and modify a SAML assertion to impersonate another account (XML Signature Wrapping Attack). In addition patching, Esri also strongly recommends as best practice for SAML assertions to be signed and encrypted.

Weakness: CWE-347 (Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-29108?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Esri Portal for Arcgis.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-29108?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-29108 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-29108 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-29108 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Esri Portal for Arcgis

- [CVE-2024-25693](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-25693/): Portal for ArcGIS has a directory traversal vulnerability. (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2026-13019](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-13019/): Missing Authentication (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-33518](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-33518/): Incorrect privilege assignment in Portal for ArcGIS (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-33519](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-33519/): Incorrect privilege assignment in Portal for ArcGIS (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2025-2538](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-2538/): BUG-000174336 (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-29108 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-29108 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Esri Portal for Arcgis, published on 1 Oct 2021. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-29108 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Esri Portal for Arcgis. 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-2021-29108/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-29108/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-29108
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-29108
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-29108

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-29108/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.