CVE-2021-22893
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 · uneditedPulse Connect Secure 9.0R3/9.1R1 and higher is vulnerable to an authentication bypass vulnerability exposed by the Windows File Share Browser and Pulse Secure Collaboration features of Pulse Connect Secure that can allow an unauthenticated user to perform remote arbitrary code execution on the Pulse Connect Secure gateway. This vulnerability has been exploited in the wild.
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 confidencePulse Connect Secure VPN gateways versions 9.0R3 through 9.1R1 and higher contain an authentication bypass vulnerability in the Windows File Share Browser and Pulse Secure Collaboration features. This flaw allows unauthenticated remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on the gateway without any credentials, making it a critical pre-authentication RCE vulnerability that has been actively exploited in the wild.
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= 9.0= 9.1CVSS 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
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/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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Identify the installed Pulse Connect Secure or Ivanti Connect Secure versionLog into the admin web interface and navigate to System > Status, or use the CLI command 'show version' to retrieve the firmware versionAffected if The installed version is 9.0R3, 9.1R1, or any higher version within the 9.0 or 9.1 release trains (for example, 9.0R4, 9.1R2, etc.)
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Determine if Windows File Share Browser is enabledIn the admin interface, go to User > Windows File Share Browser or check the feature configuration under the respective policy settings. Alternatively, examine the device configuration file for the feature toggleAffected if Windows File Share Browser is currently enabled on the gateway
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Determine if Pulse Secure Collaboration is enabledIn the admin interface, navigate to Pulse Secure Collaboration settings or check under the applicable user/policy configuration. Alternatively, review the configuration export for the feature stateAffected if Pulse Secure Collaboration is currently enabled on the gateway
You are affected if your gateway runs version 9.0R3, 9.1R1, or any higher version AND either the Windows File Share Browser or Pulse Secure Collaboration feature is 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 dataImmediately patch Pulse Connect Secure to the latest vendor-released version. If patching cannot be performed urgently, disable the Windows File Share Browser and Pulse Secure Collaboration features as an interim compensating control until the gateway can be upgraded.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-22893 — 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-2021-22893 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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