dbcve.org
Sd Wan FirmwareOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2021-1298

HIGH · 8.8 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 →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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 command injection vulnerabilities in Cisco SD-WAN products allow authenticated attackers to inject malicious commands through vulnerable input fields, potentially executing arbitrary commands with root privileges on affected devices.

MitigationApply Cisco's available security patches for SD-WAN; verify authentication controls are properly configured and limit administrative access to trusted personnel only.

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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 the installed SD-WAN product
    Log into the device CLI or management interface and run 'show version' or check the SD-WAN Manager console to identify whether the device is running Cisco SD-WAN Firmware, vSmart Controller, Catalyst SD-WAN Manager, or vBond Orchestrator.
    Affected if The device is any of these four SD-WAN products.
  2. Determine the firmware version
    Execute 'show version' in the device CLI or check the version displayed in the SD-WAN Manager web interface. For SD-WAN Firmware specifically, note the exact version number.
    Affected if The firmware version is 18.2.0, 18.3.0, 18.3.8, 18.4.6, 19.2.3, 19.2.99, or 20.1.0 (for SD-WAN Firmware), or any version for vSmart Controller, Catalyst SD-WAN Manager, or vBond Orchestrator.
  3. Verify if the administrative web interface is exposed
    Check network configuration forlisten addresses on the SD-WAN management interface (typically ports 443, 8443) and determine if the device management IP is accessible from untrusted networks.
    Affected if The administrative interface is reachable from networks outside the trusted administrative zone.
  4. Confirm local user accounts exist
    Run 'show users' or check the user database in the SD-WAN Manager under Administration > User Management to list all locally configured administrative accounts.
    Affected if At least one local administrative account is configured on the device.
  5. Check for suspicious user accounts or session anomalies
    Run 'show users detail' or review audit logs in SD-WAN Manager for unexpected administrative accounts or sessions originating from unfamiliar IP addresses.
    Affected if Unauthorized user accounts or unexpected administrative sessions are present.

The environment is affected if the device runs any of the listed SD-WAN Firmware versions or any version of vSmart Controller, Catalyst SD-WAN Manager, or vBond Orchestrator, and the management interface is accessible with valid credentials.

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 available security patches for SD-WAN; verify authentication controls are properly configured and limit administrative access to trusted personnel only.

Fix this in Sd Wan Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,140
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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-2021-1298 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
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