CVE-2021-1442

Administrator escalation via diagnostic token disclosure

Published Mar 24, 2021 · Updated Nov 8, 2024

Privilege escalation in Cisco IOS XE Software allows local users with low privileges to execute commands as an Administrator user. The show pnp profile diagnostic command exposes a privileged authentication token when a specific PnP listener is enabled. Low-level CLI access is required; the exposed token authenticates crafted PnP messages that execute level 15 commands.

CVSS severity7.0
High
EPSS probability0.24%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

Privilege escalation in Cisco IOS XE Software allows local users with low privileges to execute commands as an Administrator user. The show pnp profile diagnostic command exposes a privileged authentication token when a specific PnP listener is enabled. Low-level CLI access is required; the exposed token authenticates crafted PnP messages that execute level 15 commands.

The record

CVE
CVE-2021-1442
Published
Mar 24, 2021
Updated
Nov 8, 2024
Vendor
ClamAV
Product
Cisco IOS XE Software
Classifications
CWE-532, T1528
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Mar 24, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Nov 8, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=n/a

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

ClamAV · Cisco IOS XE Softwareversion=n/a

Published CVSS scores

7.0CiscoCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:X/RL:X/RC:X

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-532Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File
T1528Steal Application Access Token

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

Check the software in your environment

Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.

Book a demo