CVE-2021-22517
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 potential unauthorized privilege escalation vulnerability has been identified in Micro Focus Data Protector. The vulnerability affects versions 10.10, 10.20, 10.30, 10.40, 10.50, 10.60, 10.70, 10.80, 10.0 and 10.91. A privileged user may potentially misuse this feature and thus allow unintended and unauthorized access of data.
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 confidenceA privilege escalation vulnerability in Micro Focus Data Protector allows a privileged user to misuse a feature to gain unauthorized access to data. This affects versions 10.10 through 10.91 with a CVSS 8.8, indicating the vulnerability can be exploited by authenticated users with existing privileges to elevate their access beyond intended boundaries.
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= 10.0= 10.10= 10.20= 10.30= 10.40= 10.50= 10.60= 10.70= 10.80= 10.91CVSS 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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Verify Data Protector is installedCheck for the Data Protector installation directory (typically at /opt/HP/Data Protector or C:\Program Files\HP\Data Protector) or look for the 'omni' or 'dataprotector' processes running on the system.Affected if Data Protector software is found on the system
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Determine the installed versionRun 'omn version' from the Data Protector bin directory, or check the version file in the installation directory, or view the product information through the Data Protector admin interface.Affected if The installed version falls within the range 10.10 through 10.91, or matches any of the listed affected versions (10.0, 10.10, 10.20, 10.30, 10.40, 10.50, 10.60, 10.70, 10.80, 10.91)
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Identify privileged user accountsReview user roles and permissions in Data Protector by accessing the 'Users' or 'Security' section in the Data Protector admin console, or query the internal user database using 'omnimm -userlist' or equivalent user management commands.Affected if There are multiple user accounts with elevated privileges beyond standard operator or backup operator roles
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Check for misuse of privileged featuresAudit recent user activity logs in Data Protector (typically in the 'Logs' or 'Reports' section) for any instances where users with standard privileges accessed data outside their authorized scope or performed operations beyond their assigned role.Affected if Logs show privileged users accessing data or features outside their intended permissions
You are affected if Data Protector version 10.10 through 10.91 is installed and there are privileged user accounts present who could potentially exploit the feature misuse to gain unauthorized data access.
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 patch from Micro Focus when released and conduct a review of user roles and permissions to ensure privileged users have only the minimum necessary access levels.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,304.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-22517 — 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-2021-22517 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
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