CVE-2021-29218
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 local unquoted search path security vulnerability has been identified in HPE Agentless Management Service for Windows version(s): Prior to 1.44.0.0, 10.96.0.0. This vulnerability could be exploited locally by a user with high privileges to execute malware that may lead to a loss of confidentiality, integrity, and availability. HPE has provided software updates to resolve the vulnerability in HPE Agentless Management Service for Windows.
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 confidenceUnquoted service path vulnerability in HPE Agentless Management Service for Windows allows a high-privileged local user to place malicious executable in a path that gets interpolated before the service binary path is resolved, potentially executing code with elevated (SYSTEM) 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< 1.44.0.0< 10.96.0.0CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if HPE Agentless Management service is installedOpen Services console (services.msc) and look for a service named 'HPE Agentless Management' or 'HPE Proliant Agentless Management', or run: sc queryex type= service state= all | findstr /i "agentless"Affected if The service is not present on the system (not affected)
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Identify the installed version of HPE Agentless ManagementCheck the version of the installed executable. Common locations: C:\Program Files\HPE\agentless_management\ or check via Registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\HPE\AgentlessManagement\Version. Alternatively, right-click the service in Services console, go to Properties, and note the Path to executable.Affected if Version is below 1.44.0.0 for HPE Agentless Management, or below 10.96.0.0 for HPE Proliant Agentless Management, and the service path is unquoted
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Verify if the service binary path is unquotedRun: sc qc "HPE Agentless Management" (replace with exact service name found). Examine the BINARY_PATH_NAME field. If the path contains spaces and is NOT enclosed in quotes, it is vulnerable.Affected if The BINARY_PATH_NAME shows a path with spaces that lacks surrounding quotes (e.g., C:\Program Files\HPE\agentless.exe instead of "C:\Program Files\HPE\agentless.exe")
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Confirm privilege level of the serviceRun: sc qc "HPE Agentless Management" and check the START_TYPE and SERVICE_START_NAME. This vulnerability only elevates privileges if the service runs as SYSTEM or another privileged account.Affected if Service runs as LocalSystem or a privileged account and the path is unquoted
User is affected if HPE Agentless Management service is installed with a version below 1.44.0.0 (or 10.96.0.0 for Proliant variant) AND the service binary path contains spaces and is not enclosed in quotation marks, allowing potential privilege escalation to SYSTEM.
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.
dbcve · scoped1.44.0.010.96.0.0
Apply HPE software update version 1.44.0.0 or later which quotes the service executable path in the Windows service configuration.
Agentless Management: 1.44.0.0 or later; Proliant Agentless Management: 10.96.0.0 or later
- 1. Identify the current version of HPE Agentless Management Service installed on the system
- 2. Navigate to support.hpe.com and locate the HPE Agentless Management Service download page
- 3. Download the updated version: Agentless Management version 1.44.0.0 or later, or Proliant Agentless Management version 10.96.0.0 or later
- 4. Apply the software update following HPE's installation instructions
- 5. Verify the service is running the patched version
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-29218 — 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-2021-29218 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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