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Fencer Vulns
high 8.1

CVE-2021-1579 json

Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller App Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

published 2021-08-25 5 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2021-7046

cvss
8.1
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
2.1%
EPSS 2.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 82%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

A vulnerability in an API endpoint of Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) and Cisco Cloud Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (Cloud APIC) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker with Administrator read-only credentials to elevate privileges on an affected system. This vulnerability is due to an insufficient role-based access control (RBAC). An attacker with Administrator read-only credentials could exploit this vulnerability by sending a specific API request using an app with admin write credentials. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to elevate privileges to Administrator with write privileges on the affected device.

Patch / fix

  • cisco application_policy_infrastructure_controller 3.2\(10f\), 4.2\(7l\), 5.2\(2f\)
  • cisco cloud_application_policy_infrastructure_controller 3.2\(10f\), 4.2\(7l\), 5.2\(2f\)

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
2 y ago

Exploit prediction

2.13% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 82% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 8.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
NVD 3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 9.0 AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C

Affected products

  • Cisco Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC)

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-250 Execution with Unnecessary Privileges
  • CWE-269 Improper Privilege Management

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.