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Emc Powerscale OnefsOperating system · Dell

CVE-2021-21550

MEDIUM · 6.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-05-06
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
69/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Dell EMC PowerScale OneFS 8.1.0-9.1.0 contain an improper neutralization of special elements used in an OS command vulnerability. This vulnerability can allow an authenticated user with ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_SSH or ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_CONSOLE privileges to escalate privileges.

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

Dell EMC PowerScale OneFS versions 8.1.0 through 9.1.0 contain an OS command injection vulnerability where authenticated users with ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_SSH or ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_CONSOLE privileges can inject malicious OS commands, potentially achieving root privilege escalation.

MitigationApply Dell security patches or upgrade to a fixed version outside the vulnerable range. Restrict SSH and console login privileges to essential personnel only and review user access controls.

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
Emc Powerscale OnefsOperating system
Affected:= 8.1.1= 8.1.2= 8.2.1= 8.2.2= 9.0.0.0= 9.1.0.0

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Determine PowerScale OneFS version
    Run command 'isi version' or 'isi get version' on the OneFS CLI, or check via the web UI under Cluster > Management > Version
    Affected if The installed version is 8.1.0 through 9.1.0 (including 8.1.1, 8.1.2, 8.2.1, 8.2.2, 9.0.0.0, 9.1.0.0)
  2. Verify SSH service status
    Run 'isi services -a | grep ssh' or check via web UI under Cluster > Services > sshd
    Affected if SSH service is enabled and running on the cluster
  3. Identify users with SSH login privileges
    Run 'isi auth privileges' or 'isi auth users list' and check for users assigned the ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_SSH privilege, or review via web UI under Access > Users > User Name > Privileges
    Affected if Any user account has ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_SSH privilege assigned
  4. Identify users with console login privileges
    Run 'isi auth privileges' or check via web UI under Access > Users for users assigned ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_CONSOLE privilege
    Affected if Any user account has ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_CONSOLE privilege assigned

You are affected if your PowerScale OneFS version falls within 8.1.0 to 9.1.0 AND either SSH or console login is enabled for users with the ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_SSH or ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_CONSOLE privileges.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Dell security patches or upgrade to a fixed version outside the vulnerable range. Restrict SSH and console login privileges to essential personnel only and review user access controls.

Fix this in Emc Powerscale Onefs Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing5.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
17.0 hours of engineering $2,970
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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-2021-21550 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
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