CVE-2021-21541
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 · uneditedDell EMC iDRAC9 versions prior to 4.40.00.00 contain a DOM-based cross-site scripting vulnerability. A remote unauthenticated attacker could potentially exploit this vulnerability by tricking a victim application user to supply malicious HTML or JavaScript code to DOM environment in the browser. The malicious code is then executed by the web browser in the context of the vulnerable web application.
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 confidenceDell EMC iDRAC9 versions prior to 4.40.00.00 contain a DOM-based cross-site scripting vulnerability in the web interface. A remote unauthenticated attacker can trick a victim user into visiting a crafted URL that injects malicious HTML or JavaScript into the DOM, which then executes in the context of the vulnerable iDRAC web application.
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< 4.40.00.00CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
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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Confirm iDRAC9 is the target deviceLog into the iDRAC web interface and check the device model/version information, or run 'racadm get iDRAC.Info' via the command line, or query the Redfish endpoint /redfish/v1/Managers/iDRAC.Embedded.1Affected if The device is confirmed as iDRAC9 (not iDRAC8, iDRAC7, or other Dell remote access controllers)
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Check installed iDRAC9 firmware versionIn the iDRAC web UI, navigate to iDRAC Settings > Information > Device Information and locate the 'Firmware Version' field. Alternatively, run 'racadm get iDRAC.Info' and look for 'Firmware Version' in the output, or query the Redfish property /redfish/v1/Managers/iDRAC.Embedded.1/SoftwareIdentityAffected if You have retrieved the exact firmware version number installed on the iDRAC9 device
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Compare version against the affected rangeCompare the installed firmware version to 4.40.00.00 using standard version number comparison (for example, 4.30.00.00 is less than 4.40.00.00, while 4.40.00.00 or 4.41.00.00 is not)Affected if The installed version is any version number less than 4.40.00.00 (for example, 4.30.00.00, 4.20.00.00, 4.10.00.00)
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Confirm web interface is enabledVerify that the iDRAC web interface (iDRAC Web Server) is enabled by checking iDRAC Settings > Services > Web Server, or run 'racadm get iDRAC.WebServer.1'Affected if The iDRAC web interface is enabled and the firmware version is below 4.40.00.00
A user is affected if they have Dell iDRAC9 firmware installed that is version 4.40.00.00 or lower, with the iDRAC web interface enabled.
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 data4.40.00.00
Upgrade iDRAC9 firmware to version 4.40.00.00 or later to remediate this vulnerability.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-21541 — 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-2021-21541 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