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Prime Infrastructure CVE-2021-1487

HIGH
OS Command Injection (CWE-78)
2021-05-22 psirt@cisco.com
8.8
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
View

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A05:2025 - Injection
ASVS 5.0
V1 - Encoding and Sanitization OS command sanitization, avoid shell exec
MITRE ATT&CK

2 techniques across 1 tactic: Execution

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Impact

CVSS score of 8.8 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction not required.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

A remote attacker could execute arbitrary operating system commands on the host by sending crafted requests to the affected application.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).
No patch listed yet 2.1% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAI

A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco Prime Infrastructure and Evolved Programmable Network (EPN) Manager could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.

RemediationAI

No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Avoid passing user input to shell commands. Use language-specific APIs instead of shell execution. Apply strict input validation with allowlists.

Affects your stack

Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

This vulnerability is classified as OS Command Injection (CWE-78), which allows attackers to execute arbitrary operating system commands on the host. A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco Prime Infrastructure and Evolved Programmable Network (EPN) Manager could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands on an affected system. The vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input to the web-based management interface. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted HTTP requests to the interface. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system (OS) with the permissions of a special non-root user. In this way, an attacker could take control of the affected system, which would allow them to obtain and alter sensitive data. The attacker could also affect the devices that are managed by the affected system by pushing arbitrary configuration files, retrieving device credentials and confidential information, and ultimately undermining the stability of the devices, causing a denial of service (DoS) condition. Affected products include: Cisco Evolved Programmable Network Manager, Cisco Prime Infrastructure.

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  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY 8.8 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.

CVSS VectorNVD

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

DescriptionNVD

A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco Prime Infrastructure and Evolved Programmable Network (EPN) Manager could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands on an affected system. The vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input to the web-based management interface. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted HTTP requests to the interface. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system (OS) with the permissions of a special non-root user. In this way, an attacker could take control of the affected system, which would allow them to obtain and alter sensitive data. The attacker could also affect the devices that are managed by the affected system by pushing arbitrary configuration files, retrieving device credentials and confidential information, and ultimately undermining the stability of the devices, causing a denial of service (DoS) condition.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
2.1%
Top 20% exploitable
Data Quality
2 sources
Confidence: Low

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity HIGH
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 2.1%
Patch available No
Active threat No
Deciding rule
HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable· derived
No
Human Impact· derived
Medium

Priority Score

46
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: +2
CVSS: +44
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

OS command injection occurs when an application passes unsanitized user input directly into system shell commands.

Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.

Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.

Affected Products (CPE)NVD

cpe:2.3:a:cisco:evolved_programmable_network_manager:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:cisco:prime_infrastructure:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
CVE-2023-44487 HIGH POC
7.5 Oct 10

Denial of service against HTTP/2 server implementations allows remote unauthenticated attackers to exhaust server resour

CVE-2019-1821 CRITICAL POC
9.8 May 16

A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco Prime Infrastructure (PI) and Cisco Evolved Programmable

CVE-2018-15379 CRITICAL POC
9.8 Oct 05

A vulnerability in which the HTTP web server for Cisco Prime Infrastructure (PI) has unrestricted directory permissions

CVE-2016-1289 CRITICAL
9.8 Jul 02

The API in Cisco Prime Infrastructure 1.2 through 3.0 and Evolved Programmable Network Manager (EPNM) 1.2 allows remote

CVE-2016-1291 CRITICAL
9.8 Apr 06

Cisco Prime Infrastructure 1.2.0 through 2.2(2) and Cisco Evolved Programmable Network Manager (EPNM) 1.2 allow remote a

CVE-2019-15958 CRITICAL
9.8 Nov 26

A vulnerability in the REST API of Cisco Prime Infrastructure (PI) and Cisco Evolved Programmable Network Manager (EPNM)

CVE-2018-0258 CRITICAL
9.8 May 02

A vulnerability in the Cisco Prime File Upload servlet affecting multiple Cisco products could allow a remote attacker t

CVE-2016-6443 HIGH
8.8 Oct 27

A vulnerability in the Cisco Prime Infrastructure and Evolved Programmable Network Manager SQL database interface could

CVE-2014-0679 CRITICAL
9.0 Feb 27

Cisco Prime Infrastructure 1.2 and 1.3 before 1.3.0.20-2, 1.4 before 1.4.0.45-2, and 2.0 before 2.0.0.0.294-2 allows rem

CVE-2016-1442 HIGH
8.8 Jul 07

The administrative web interface in Cisco Prime Infrastructure (PI) before 3.1.1 allows remote authenticated users to ex

CVE-2016-1359 HIGH
8.8 Mar 03

Cisco Prime Infrastructure 3.0 allows remote authenticated users to execute arbitrary code via a crafted HTTP request th

CVE-2016-1408 HIGH
8.8 Jul 02

Cisco Prime Infrastructure 1.2 through 3.1 and Evolved Programmable Network Manager (EPNM) 1.2 and 2.0 allow remote auth

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