ProtectApplication · Blackberry

CVE-2021-32022

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-11-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1574 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
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
A low privileged delete vulnerability using CEF RPC server of BlackBerry Protect for Windows version(s) versions 1574 and earlier could allow an attacker to potentially execute code in the context of a BlackBerry Cylance service that has admin rights on the system and gaining the ability to delete data from the local system.

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 confidence

A low-privileged delete vulnerability exists in the CEF RPC server of BlackBerry Protect for Windows versions 1574 and earlier. An attacker with low-level access can exploit this to delete arbitrary files, potentially leading to code execution in the context of the privileged BlackBerry Cylance service and unauthorized data deletion on the local system.

MitigationUpdate BlackBerry Protect for Windows to a version beyond 1574. If no patch is available, restrict RPC interface access and monitor for suspicious delete operations via the CEF service.

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
ProtectApplication
Affected:<= 1574

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

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. Identify if BlackBerry Protect for Windows is installed
    Open Windows Settings > Apps & features, or run 'Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product' in PowerShell, and look for an entry named 'BlackBerry Protect' or 'BlackBerry Cylance Protect' in the installed programs list
    Affected if BlackBerry Protect is not listed in installed programs, the system is not affected by this vulnerability
  2. Determine the installed BlackBerry Protect version
    In Windows Settings > Apps & features, click on BlackBerry Protect and view the Version field, or inspect the program's executable properties at the installation directory
    Affected if The displayed version number is 1574 or lower (for example: 1574, 1570, 1500, etc.)
  3. Verify the CEF RPC service component exists
    Open Services (services.msc) and look for a service related to CEF, Cylance, or BlackBerry Endpoint, or run 'Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like '*Cylance*' -or $_.DisplayName -like '*CEF*'}' in PowerShell
    Affected if A CEF or Cylance-related RPC service is present and running on the system (the vulnerability exists in this component)
  4. Confirm RPC listener is active on the system
    Open Command Prompt as administrator and run 'netstat -an | findstr LISTENING' to list active listening ports, then cross-reference with any known CEF RPC endpoint ports if documented in your environment
    Affected if The CEF RPC server is listening on a network port (indicating the vulnerable service is exposed)

A system is affected if BlackBerry Protect for Windows is installed with version 1574 or lower and the CEF RPC server component is present and active.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 1574
Interim mitigation

Update BlackBerry Protect for Windows to a version beyond 1574. If no patch is available, restrict RPC interface access and monitor for suspicious delete operations via the CEF service.

Fix this in Protect Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,440
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,504.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-32022 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-32022 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data