CVE-2021-26677

Local privilege escalation to SYSTEM

Published Feb 23, 2021 · Updated Aug 3, 2024

Privilege escalation in ClearPass OnGuard for affected ClearPass Policy Manager releases allows local users to execute code as SYSTEM. HPE has not published the defective OnGuard function or the untrusted operation that enables the elevation. Exploitation requires a locally authenticated Windows user and yields arbitrary code execution with SYSTEM privileges.

CVSS severity7.0
High
EPSS probability0.31%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Privilege escalation in ClearPass OnGuard for affected ClearPass Policy Manager releases allows local users to execute code as SYSTEM. HPE has not published the defective OnGuard function or the untrusted operation that enables the elevation. Exploitation requires a locally authenticated Windows user and yields arbitrary code execution with SYSTEM privileges.

The record

CVE
CVE-2021-26677
Published
Feb 23, 2021
Updated
Aug 3, 2024
Vendor
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
Product
HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager
Classifications
T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Feb 23, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 3, 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=Prior to 6.9.5, 6.8.8-HF1, 6.7.14-HF1

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) · HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Managerversion=Prior to 6.9.5, 6.8.8-HF1, 6.7.14-HF1

Published CVSS scores

7.8NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
7.0Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
7.2NIST NVDAV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

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

T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

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

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Your stack

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