CVE-2021-20623
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 · uneditedVideo Insight VMS versions prior to 7.8 allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code with the system user privilege by sending a specially crafted request.
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 confidenceThis is a pre-authentication remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in Video Insight VMS (Video Management Software). Attackers can send specially crafted requests to execute arbitrary code with system user privileges. The vulnerability affects all versions prior to 7.8.
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< 7.8CVSS 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
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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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Locate Video Insight VMS version informationOpen the Video Insight VMS client application and navigate to Help > About, or check Windows Add/Remove Programs for the installed versionAffected if The displayed version number is lower than 7.8 (for example, 7.7, 7.6, etc.)
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Verify the exact version buildIf available, check the version build number or release date in the application's About dialog or release notes documentationAffected if The version is any release prior to the 7.8 release build
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Confirm VMS server is runningCheck if the Video Insight VMS server service is active and accessible on the network using standard network diagnostic toolsAffected if The VMS server is running and accepting connections on its management ports
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Check management interface exposureReview network firewall rules or access control lists to determine whether the VMS management interface is reachable from untrusted networksAffected if Port 80/443 or the VMS management port is open to the internet or untrusted LAN segments
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Identify system contextExamine the Windows service configuration for Video Insight VMS to confirm it runs under a system or high-privilege accountAffected if The VMS service runs under SYSTEM, LocalSystem, or an administrator-level account (which is the default configuration)
The environment is affected if Video Insight VMS is installed with any version lower than 7.8 and the management interface is network-accessible.
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 data7.8
Upgrade Video Insight VMS to version 7.8 or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, restrict network access to the VMS management interface to minimize exposure.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-20623 — 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-2021-20623 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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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.
- 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