CVE-2021-36312
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 · uneditedDell EMC CloudLink 7.1 and all prior versions contain a Hard-coded Password Vulnerability. A remote high privileged attacker, with the knowledge of the hard-coded credentials, may potentially exploit this vulnerability to gain unauthorized access to the 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 confidenceDell EMC CloudLink 7.1 and prior versions contain a hard-coded password (backdoor) embedded in the software. A remote attacker with high-level privileges and knowledge of these hard-coded credentials can exploit this vulnerability to gain unauthorized access to the system, potentially escalating their access or maintaining persistent presence.
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< 7.1.1CVSS 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
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/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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Identify installed Dell CloudLink versionAccess the CloudLink administrative interface or check system documentation to determine the currently installed version numberAffected if The installed version is any release prior to 7.1.1 (versions 7.1 and earlier)
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Audit system user accountsReview all user accounts configured in CloudLink, including local users, service accounts, and any accounts with administrative or high-level privilegesAffected if There are any unexpected, undocumented, or extra user accounts present beyond those explicitly created by administrators
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Examine authentication configurationInspect authentication configuration files, scripts, or database entries related to user authentication and credential storageAffected if Any credentials are found stored in plaintext, embedded directly in code or scripts, or configured with default values that are not user-defined
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Review authentication logs for anomalous accessAnalyze CloudLink authentication and access logs for successful logins using credentials that cannot be traced to known, legitimate administratorsAffected if Logs show successful authentications from accounts that were never created through the normal administrative provisioning process
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Check for persistent access mechanismsInspect the system for any unauthorized scheduled tasks, services, or startup configurations that may indicate persistent access established via backdoor credentialsAffected if Any undocumented scheduled tasks, services, or persistent mechanisms exist that were not created by the legitimate administration team
A system is affected if it runs Dell CloudLink version 7.1 or prior AND contains hardcoded credentials that could provide unauthorized high-privilege access to a remote attacker.
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 · scoped7.1.1
Remove the hard-coded password from the codebase and implement proper authentication mechanisms. Apply any vendor-supplied patches when available and rotate credentials if exposure is suspected.
7.1.1
- Upgrade Dell EMC CloudLink to version 7.1.1 or later to remediate the hard-coded password vulnerability
- Follow Dell's standard upgrade procedure for CloudLink 7.1.1
- Verify the upgrade was successful and the hard-coded credentials have been replaced with secure, unique passwords
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation16.0 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 $9,600.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-36312 — 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-2021-36312 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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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.
- 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