CVE-2021-33538
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 · uneditedIn Weidmueller Industrial WLAN devices in multiple versions an exploitable improper access control vulnerability exists in the iw_webs account settings functionality. A specially crafted user name entry can cause the overwrite of an existing user account password, resulting in remote shell access to the device as that user. An attacker can send commands while authenticated as a low privilege user to trigger this vulnerability.
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 confidenceImproper access control vulnerability in Weidmueller Industrial WLAN devices iw_webs account settings allows a low-privilege authenticated user to overwrite existing user account passwords via specially crafted username entries, enabling remote shell access as those users.
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<= 1.16.18<= 1.11.10<= 1.16.18<= 1.11.10<= 1.16.18<= 1.11.10<= 1.16.18<= 1.11.10<= 1.16.18<= 1.11.10<= 1.16.18<= 1.11.10<= 1.16.18<= 1.11.10<= 1.16.18<= 1.11.10CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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 device modelConfirm the device is a Weidmueller Industrial WLAN device from the Ie Wl or Ie Wlt product families (models include Bl Ap Cl Eu, Bl Ap Cl Us, Vl Ap Br Cl Eu, Vl Ap Br Cl Us variants)Affected if Device is one of the affected Weidmueller model names listed in the CVE
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Check firmware versionAccess the device web interface or use SNMP/CLI to retrieve the firmware version. Compare against the affected ranges: <= 1.16.18 or <= 1.11.10Affected if Firmware version is 1.16.18 or lower, or 1.11.10 or lower
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Verify iw_webs service is enabledCheck if the iw_webs web service is running on the device (typically on ports 80/443 or custom HTTP port). This is the account management interface where the vulnerability existsAffected if iw_webs service is accessible and running on the device
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Check user account configurationExamine the device user accounts via the web interface or config backup. Identify if there are multiple user accounts beyond the testing/root accountAffected if Multiple user accounts exist on the device (more than one user)
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Assess low-privilege access to account settingsLog in with a non-administrator account and attempt to access the account settings or user management section of the iw_webs interfaceAffected if A low-privilege (non-admin) authenticated user can access and modify account passwords
Device is affected if it is a Weidmueller Industrial WLAN model running firmware <= 1.16.18 or <= 1.11.10, has the iw_webs interface enabled, and allows low-privilege users to access account password modification settings.
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 proper authorization checks to ensure only admin-level users can modify account passwords; restrict account management functionality to appropriate privilege levels.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-33538 — 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-2021-33538 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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