dbcve.org
Sd Wan FirmwareOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2021-1263

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-01-20
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Multiple vulnerabilities in Cisco SD-WAN products could allow an authenticated attacker to perform command injection attacks against an affected device, which could allow the attacker to take certain actions with root privileges on the device. For more information about these vulnerabilities, see the Details section of this advisory.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

Multiple vulnerabilities in Cisco SD-WAN products allow an authenticated attacker to perform command injection attacks against affected devices, potentially granting root privileges. The CVSS 7.8 score indicates high severity due to the potential for complete system compromise.

MitigationApply Cisco's official patches for the SD-WAN vulnerabilities; restrict administrative access to trusted personnel and monitor for anomalous command execution.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Sd Wan FirmwareOperating system
Affected:= 18.2.0= 18.3.0= 18.3.8= 18.4.6= 19.2.3= 19.2.99= 20.1.0
Sd Wan Vsmart Controller FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Catalyst Sd Wan ManagerApplication
Affected:all versions
Sd Wan Vbond OrchestratorApplication
Affected:all versions

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify SD-WAN firmware version
    Access the device CLI or administrative interface and run the command to display the installed firmware version (typically 'show version' or similar vendor-specific command)
    Affected if The installed version matches any of these: 18.2.0, 18.3.0, 18.3.8, 18.4.6, 19.2.3, 19.2.99, or 20.1.0
  2. Identify the SD-WAN component type
    Determine which SD-WAN component is running on the device: vSmart Controller, vBond Orchestrator, or SD-WAN Manager (formerly vManage). Check the device role via the administrative console or CLI command
    Affected if The device is running any version of vSmart Controller, vBond Orchestrator, or Catalyst SD-WAN Manager
  3. Verify administrative access configuration
    Review the device configuration for enabled administrative interfaces such as CLI, web UI, or API access. Check for allowed management IP ranges and authentication settings
    Affected if Remote administrative access is enabled and the device is reachable over the network to potential attackers
  4. Review administrative user accounts
    List all configured administrative user accounts on the device using the vendor-specific command to show user accounts
    Affected if Unexpected or unauthorized administrative accounts exist on the system

The environment is affected if the device runs any of the listed SD-WAN firmware versions or runs any version of vSmart Controller, vBond Orchestrator, or Catalyst SD-WAN Manager with accessible administrative interfaces.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Cisco's official patches for the SD-WAN vulnerabilities; restrict administrative access to trusted personnel and monitor for anomalous command execution.

Fix this in Sd Wan Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,280
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-1263 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data