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Enterprise VaultApplication · Veritas

CVE-2021-44680

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-12-06
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 14.1.2 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
An issue (4 of 6) was discovered in Veritas Enterprise Vault through 14.1.2. On start-up, the Enterprise Vault application starts several services that listen on random .NET Remoting TCP ports for possible commands from client applications. These TCP services can be exploited due to deserialization behavior that is inherent to the .NET Remoting service. A malicious attacker can exploit both TCP remoting services and local IPC services on the Enterprise Vault Server. This vulnerability is mitigated by properly configuring the servers and firewall as described in the vendor's security alert for this vulnerability (VTS21-003, ZDI-CAN-14075).

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 confidence

Veritas Enterprise Vault versions through 14.1.2 start multiple .NET Remoting TCP services on random ports that contain insecure deserialization vulnerabilities. Attackers can exploit these TCP remoting services and local IPC services on the Enterprise Vault Server to achieve remote code execution due to inherent .NET Remoting deserialization flaws.

MitigationApply vendor-recommended firewall rules and server hardening per Veritas security alert VTS21-003 to restrict access to the remoting services, and consider upgrading to a patched version beyond 14.1.2.

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
Enterprise VaultApplication
Affected:<= 14.1.2

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. Verify Enterprise Vault installation
    Check for Veritas Enterprise Vault installation by looking for its installation directory (typically under C:\Program Files\Veritas\Enterprise Vault\ or equivalent on your system) and the Enterprise Vault services in Windows Services.
    Affected if The product is installed and the version is 14.1.2 or below.
  2. Determine installed version
    Locate the Enterprise Vault version information in the installation directory or via the Enterprise Vault Administration console, and compare it to the affected range of versions <= 14.1.2.
    Affected if The installed version is 14.1.2 or any earlier version.
  3. Identify running .NET Remoting services
    Use netstat or a port scanner to identify TCP listening ports on the server. Look for .NET Remoting services associated with the Enterprise Vault process (ev.exe or related services). Check for any unusual or unexpected listening ports that were not intentionally configured.
    Affected if Unexpected TCP services are listening on random ports and are associated with Enterprise Vault.
  4. Verify network exposure of remoting services
    From an external host, attempt to connect to the identified remoting ports on the Enterprise Vault server. Review firewall rules to determine if these ports are accessible from untrusted networks.
    Affected if The .NET Remoting TCP services are accessible from network segments that should not have access to internal server services.

You are affected if Veritas Enterprise Vault version 14.1.2 or below is installed and the vulnerable .NET Remoting TCP services are exposed and accessible.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 14.1.2
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor-recommended firewall rules and server hardening per Veritas security alert VTS21-003 to restrict access to the remoting services, and consider upgrading to a patched version beyond 14.1.2.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Enterprise Vault version greater than 14.1.2 (contact Veritas Support for exact fixed release)

  1. Review Veritas security alert VTS21-003 for detailed configuration mitigations (firewall rules, server hardening) if immediate upgrade is not feasible
  2. Contact Veritas Support to obtain the specific fixed release version that addresses CVE-2021-44680
  3. Plan and schedule an upgrade to the fixed Enterprise Vault release
  4. After upgrading, verify that .NET Remoting services are properly secured and network exposure is minimized
  5. Test Enterprise Vault functionality after the upgrade to ensure no regression

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Enterprise Vault Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
27.0 hours of engineering $4,800
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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-2021-44680 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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