Content Security Management ApplianceApplication · Cisco
CVE-2021-1447
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 · uneditedA vulnerability in the user account management system of Cisco AsyncOS for Cisco Content Security Management Appliance (SMA) could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate their privileges to root. This vulnerability is due to a procedural flaw in the password generation algorithm. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by enabling specific Administrator-only features and connecting to the appliance through the CLI with elevated privileges. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root and access the underlying operating system. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have valid Administrator credentials.
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 confidenceA vulnerability in the user account management system of Cisco AsyncOS for Content Security Management Appliance (SMA) allows an authenticated local attacker with Administrator credentials to elevate privileges to root due to a procedural flaw in the password generation algorithm. The attacker must enable specific Administrator-only features and connect to the appliance through CLI with elevated privileges to execute arbitrary commands as root.
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
Content Security Management ApplianceApplication
< 12.8.1-002>= 13.0.0-249, < 13.8.1-068CVSS 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
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the installed SMA firmware versionAccess the SMA web interface under Help and About, or run 'version' command in CLI to retrieve the current AsyncOS versionAffected if The version is less than 12.8.1-002, or falls between 13.0.0-249 and 13.8.1-068 inclusive
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Verify Administrator account configurationReview SMA user accounts through the web interface under Users > Local Users or via CLI command 'userlist' to confirm Administrator-level accounts existAffected if Any Administrator-level accounts are present on the appliance
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Confirm Administrator-only features are accessibleCheck if the privileged Administrator features (such as the password reset utility or elevated CLI access) are enabled by reviewing user role configurations in the SMA management consoleAffected if Specific Administrator-only features that can invoke the flawed password generation algorithm are available and enabled
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Inspect recent CLI session activityReview SMA CLI logs or audit logs for any recent sessions where elevated Administrator commands were executed, particularly commands related to user password operations or shell accessAffected if Any CLI sessions show execution of commands that could leverage the password generation flaw to gain root access
The environment is affected if the SMA runs an AsyncOS version within the vulnerable ranges AND has Administrator accounts with access to the specific privileged features that trigger the flawed password generation algorithm.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 data12.8.1-00213.8.1-068
Apply the Cisco patch or firmware update for CVE-2021-1447 when available. Restrict Administrator access and monitor CLI activity for suspicious behavior until the fix is deployed.
Fix this in Content Security Management Appliance
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,832.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-1447 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-1447 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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