Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 15 Apr 2024. Known ransomware use
Endpoint Manager Cloud Services ApplianceApplication · Ivanti

CVE-2021-44529

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-12-08
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 4.5 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Ransomware High EPSS Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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 code injection vulnerability in the Ivanti EPM Cloud Services Appliance (CSA) allows an unauthenticated user to execute arbitrary code with limited permissions (nobody).

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

Code injection vulnerability in the Ivanti EPM Cloud Services Appliance (CSA) allows an unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code on the target system with 'nobody' user privileges.

MitigationApply vendor-provided security patches for CVE-2021-44529 to the Ivanti EPM CSA immediately. Until patched, restrict network access to the CSA to trusted IPs only and monitor for indicators of compromise.

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
Endpoint Manager Cloud Services ApplianceApplication
Affected:<= 4.5= 4.6

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm Ivanti CSA installation
    Identify whether the Ivanti Endpoint Manager Cloud Services Appliance component is present in the environment. Check for installed CSA services, processes, or the CSA web interface.
    Affected if Ivanti CSA is installed and running in the environment
  2. Check CSA version
    Locate and retrieve the installed version of the Cloud Services Appliance. This is typically available in the CSA administration interface, system information page, or version file. Compare the version number against the affected ranges: version 4.5 and earlier, or version 4.6.
    Affected if The installed CSA version is 4.5 or lower, or exactly version 4.6
  3. Verify CSA management interface exposure
    Determine if the CSA web management interface is network-accessible from untrusted networks. Check firewall rules, network ACLs, or reverse proxy configurations that expose the CSA ports (commonly port 443 or 8080) to the internet or untrusted networks.
    Affected if The CSA management interface is accessible from untrusted network locations without additional authentication barriers
  4. Inspect for code injection artifacts
    Examine the CSA system for unexpected files, scripts, or processes running under the 'nobody' user account. Review any recently created or modified executable files, cron jobs, or shell scripts in the CSA web directory.
    Affected if Unexpected scripts, processes, or files exist that were not authored by administrators, or commands are executing under the 'nobody' user context unexpectedly
  5. Review CSA access and error logs
    Analyze CSA server logs for signs of exploitation attempts, including malformed input patterns, unusual API calls, or authentication failures from unexpected source IP addresses.
    Affected if Log entries show injection attempts containing special characters, unauthorized access attempts, or commands not initiated by legitimate administrators

If Ivanti CSA versions 4.5 or lower, or version 4.6 is installed and the management interface is network-accessible, the environment is potentially affected by CVE-2021-44529 and should be investigated further.

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 4.5
Vendor patch forums.ivanti.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor-provided security patches for CVE-2021-44529 to the Ivanti EPM CSA immediately. Until patched, restrict network access to the CSA to trusted IPs only and monitor for indicators of compromise.

Fix this in Endpoint Manager Cloud Services Appliance Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,600.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-44529 — 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-2021-44529 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