CVE-2021-20017
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 post-authenticated command injection vulnerability in SonicWall SMA100 allows an authenticated attacker to execute OS commands as a 'nobody' user. This vulnerability impacts SMA100 version 10.2.0.5 and earlier.
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 confidenceA post-authenticated command injection vulnerability in SonicWall SMA100 allows an authenticated attacker to execute operating system commands as the 'nobody' user. The vulnerability affects SMA100 versions 10.2.0.5 and earlier.
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<= 10.2.0.5CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check SMA100 firmware versionLog into the SMA100 administrative interface and navigate to System > Status, or use the CLI command 'version' to display the running firmware versionAffected if The firmware version is 10.2.0.5 or earlier
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Confirm SMA100 web interface is exposedAttempt to access the SMA100 login page from external networks using the device's public IP address or check firewall rules for port 443/TCP access to the SMA100 management interfaceAffected if The administrative web interface is accessible from untrusted networks
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Verify authentication is enabledConfirm that local users or directory users can authenticate to the SMA100 web interface and that the management portal is not fully disabledAffected if Valid user accounts exist and can log into the SMA100, and the firmware is version 10.2.0.5 or earlier
The device is vulnerable if the SMA100 firmware version is 10.2.0.5 or earlier and the administrative interface is accessible to an attacker who can obtain valid credentials.
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 dataApply the vendor-supplied patch or upgrade the SMA100 firmware to a version newer than 10.2.0.5, and restrict administrative interface access to trusted IP addresses via firewall rules.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-20017 — 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-2021-20017 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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