CVE-2021-27473
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 · uneditedRockwell Automation Connected Components Workbench v12.00.00 and prior does not sanitize paths specified within the .ccwarc archive file during extraction. This type of vulnerability is also commonly referred to as a Zip Slip. A local, authenticated attacker can create a malicious .ccwarc archive file that, when opened by Connected Components Workbench, will allow the attacker to gain the privileges of the software. If the software is running at SYSTEM level, the attacker will gain admin level privileges. User interaction is required for this exploit to be successful.
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 confidenceRockwell Automation Connected Components Workbench v12.00.00 and prior is vulnerable to Zip Slip (directory traversal) during extraction of .ccwarc archive files. The software fails to sanitize paths in the archive, allowing an authenticated local attacker to craft a malicious archive that can write files outside the intended extraction directory and gain elevated (SYSTEM/admin) privileges.
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<= 12.00.00CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/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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Determine Connected Components Workbench versionOpen the application and navigate to Help > About, or check Add/Remove Programs in Windows Control Panel to find the installed version numberAffected if The installed version is 12.00.00 or any prior version (12.00.00, 11.x, 10.x, etc.)
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Confirm .ccwarc file handling is in useIdentify whether the software is being used to open or import .ccwarc archive files, which are project/archive files specific to this productAffected if The software processes .ccwarc files from untrusted sources or unknown origin
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Verify user authentication contextDetermine if the user account running the application has authenticated local access to the systemAffected if The user has authenticated local access to the machine where the software is installed
You are affected if Connected Components Workbench version 12.00.00 or earlier is installed AND the software is used to extract or open .ccwarc archive files, particularly from untrusted sources, allowing a directory traversal attack to write files outside the intended extraction directory.
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 dataUpgrade to a patched version of Connected Components Workbench (if available) and implement input validation on all archive extraction paths to prevent directory traversal. Alternatively, restrict user privileges and avoid opening untrusted .ccwarc files.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-27473 — 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-2021-27473 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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