CVE-2021-29149

Malicious firmware installation via unrestricted PHY updates

Published Jul 22, 2021 · Updated Aug 3, 2024

Security restriction bypass in Aruba AOS-CX allows administrators with physical access to overwrite PHY firmware with a malicious image. The PHY In-System Programming path accepts the supplied image and overwrites device firmware in 10.04 before 10.04.3070, 10.05 before 10.05.0070, 10.06 before 10.06.0110, and 10.07 before 10.07.0001. Exploitation requires administrative credentials and access to the physical ISP update interface, granting control of programmable-device firmware without a reported availability impact.

CVSS severity6.6
Medium
EPSS probability0.25%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Security restriction bypass in Aruba AOS-CX allows administrators with physical access to overwrite PHY firmware with a malicious image. The PHY In-System Programming path accepts the supplied image and overwrites device firmware in 10.04 before 10.04.3070, 10.05 before 10.05.0070, 10.06 before 10.06.0110, and 10.07 before 10.07.0001. Exploitation requires administrative credentials and access to the physical ISP update interface, granting control of programmable-device firmware without a reported availability impact.

The record

CVE
CVE-2021-29149
Published
Jul 22, 2021
Updated
Aug 3, 2024
Vendor
Aruba Networks
Product
Aruba AOS-CX
Classifications
T1542.001
Attack vector
physical
Privileges
admin

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jul 22, 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=Aruba AOS-CX firmware: 10.04.xxxx - versions prior to 10.04.3070, 10.05.xxxx - versions prior to 10.05.0070, 10.06.xxxx - versions prior to 10.06.0110, 10.07.xxxx - versions prior to 10.07.0001

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorphysical
Required privilegesadmin

What is affected?

Aruba Networks · Aruba AOS-CXversion=Aruba AOS-CX firmware: 10.04.xxxx - versions prior to 10.04.3070, 10.05.xxxx - versions prior to 10.05.0070, 10.06.xxxx - versions prior to 10.06.0110, 10.07.xxxx - versions prior to 10.07.0001

Published CVSS scores

6.6Hewlett Packard EnterpriseCVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
5.3Hewlett Packard EnterpriseAV:L/AC:H/Au:M/C:C/I:C/A:N
4.6NIST NVDAV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
6.2NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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)
Vectorphysical
Privilegesadmin
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1542.001Pre-OS Boot: System Firmware

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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