# CVE-2021-36316: Privilege escalation in Avamar

> A malicious user with high privileges can exploit improper privilege management in Dell EMC Avamar Server to disclose information and perform unauthorized operations.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 21 Dec 2021
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-wrmw-qgfp-5p47

## What is CVE-2021-36316?

CVE-2021-36316 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Dell Avamar, published on 21 Dec 2021. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Dell EMC Avamar Server versions 18.2, 19.1, 19.2, 19.3, and 19.4 contain an improper privilege management vulnerability in AUI. A malicious user with high privileges could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to the disclosure of the AUI info and performing some unauthorized operation on the AUI.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-36316?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Dell Emc Avamar Server.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-36316?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-36316 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-36316 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-36316 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Dell Avamar

- [CVE-2020-29493](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-29493/): SQL injection in Avamar (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2020-29495](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-29495/): Command injection in Avamar (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2020-5341](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-5341/): Deserialization in Avamar Virtual Edition (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-29494](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-29494/): Path traversal in Avamar (high 8.7)
- [CVE-2019-3752](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-3752/): XML external entity in Avamar (high 8.2)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-36316 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-36316 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Dell Avamar, published on 21 Dec 2021. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-36316 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Dell Avamar. 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-2021-36316/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-36316/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-36316
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-36316
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-36316

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-36316/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.