Meeting ServerApplication · Cisco

CVE-2021-1524

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-06-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.1.1 or later.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
A vulnerability in the API of Cisco Meeting Server could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. This vulnerability exists because requests that are sent to the API are not properly validated. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malicious request to the API. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause all participants on a call to be disconnected, resulting in a DoS condition.

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 · high confidence

The Cisco Meeting Server API lacks proper validation of incoming requests, allowing an authenticated remote attacker to send specially crafted API requests that cause all participants to be disconnected from calls, resulting in denial of service.

MitigationApply the vendor patch from Cisco for CVE-2021-1524 to implement proper API request validation and prevent malicious requests from disconnecting call participants.

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
Meeting ServerApplication
Affected:>= 3.1, < 3.1.1

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 installed Cisco Meeting Server version
    Access the admin interface or use the command line interface to retrieve the current version number of the Cisco Meeting Server software
    Affected if The installed version is greater than or equal to 3.1 but less than 3.1.1
  2. Verify API access is enabled
    Check the Cisco Meeting Server configuration to determine if the API interface is exposed and accessible to network clients
    Affected if The API is enabled and reachable from network segments where potential attackers exist
  3. Review API authentication configuration
    Examine the API authentication settings to determine which users or accounts have API access privileges
    Affected if API access is granted to users beyond trusted administrators, increasing the attack surface
  4. Check for unusual API activity in logs
    Review Cisco Meeting Server logs for API requests that may indicate exploitation attempts, particularly those targeting call participant management endpoints
    Affected if Logs show API requests that correlate with participant disconnections from calls

The environment is affected if Cisco Meeting Server version 3.1 through 3.1.0 is running with the API interface enabled and accessible to authenticated users.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 3.1.1 or later
Fixed in 3.1.1
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor patch from Cisco for CVE-2021-1524 to implement proper API request validation and prevent malicious requests from disconnecting call participants.

Fix this in Meeting Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
25.0 hours of engineering $4,400
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,040.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-1524 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-1524 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