CVE-2021-33025
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 · uneditedxArrow SCADA versions 7.2 and prior permits unvalidated registry keys to be run with application-level privileges.
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 confidencexArrow SCADA versions 7.2 and prior allows the application to read and execute registry keys without proper validation, enabling a local attacker with limited privileges to modify trusted registry keys that the application then executes with elevated (application-level) privileges, resulting in privilege escalation.
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<= 7.2CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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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Identify if xArrow SCADA is installedCheck the Windows registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for an entry named 'xArrow' or check common installation directories such as C:\Program Files\xArrow or C:\xArrow for the presence of xArrow application files.Affected if xArrow SCADA is installed with a version number of 7.2 or lower (check the Version value in the uninstall registry entry or version info in the executable).
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Locate registry keys read by xArrowUse process monitoring tools (such as Process Monitor from Sysinternals) to observe registry read operations performed by the xArrow application during startup and normal operation. Filter for the xArrow process and capture registry key paths accessed.Affected if The application reads registry keys from locations writable by non-administrator users.
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Check registry key permissionsUse regedit or PowerShell (Get-Acl) to examine the Access Control List (ACL) of registry keys identified in the previous step. Specifically check if standard users or low-privilege accounts have Write or Full Control permissions.Affected if Non-administrator accounts have Write or Full Control permissions on registry keys that xArrow reads and executes.
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Inspect registry key values for anomaliesReview the current values in the registry keys identified as being read by xArrow. Compare against expected values or known-good baselines if available. Look for unexpected executable paths, commands, or parameters.Affected if Registry values contain unexpected file paths, commands, or parameters that differ from the documented or expected configuration.
You are affected if xArrow SCADA version 7.2 or lower is installed AND the registry keys it reads from contain values that could be modified by low-privilege users due to overly permissive ACLs.
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 dataImplement strict validation of all registry keys before execution and restrict write access to registry keys used by the application to prevent unauthorized modification.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing8.0 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 $6,656.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-33025 — 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-2021-33025 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data