Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

published 2021-09-23 5 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2021-21374

cvss: 6.0; version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.3%; EPSS 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 18%
public exploits: 0; none known

A vulnerability in the Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software CLI could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges and execute arbitrary code on the underlying operating system as the root user. An attacker must be authenticated on an affected device as a PRIV15 user. This vulnerability is due to insufficient file system protection and the presence of a sensitive file in the bootflash directory on an affected device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by overwriting an installer file stored in the bootflash directory with arbitrary commands that can be executed with root-level privileges. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to read and write changes to the configuration database on the affected device.

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none
Automatable: no
Technical impact: total
Assessed: 2 y ago (2024-11-07)

Exploit prediction

0.27% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 18% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	3.1	6.0	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
NVD	3.1	6.0	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
NVD	2.0	6.6	AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:N

Affected products

Cisco Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software

Classification

Weakness

CWE-284 Improper Access Control

References

tools.cisco.com /security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-iosxesdwan-privesc-VP4FG3jD
vendor-advisory

Sources

CVE List CVE-2021-34724
NVD CVE-2021-34724

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Summary