CVE-2021-37941

Local privilege escalation via malicious agent attachment

Published Dec 8, 2021 · Updated Aug 4, 2024

Improper privilege management in Elastic APM Java Agent 1.10.0 through 1.26.0 allows local users to run commands with higher privileges. The attacher CLI and attach API accept a user-supplied file for an instrumented JVM, and the profiling inferred spans path loads that file in the agent context. A local account must reach an application JVM using those attach mechanisms or enable profiling_inferred_spans_enabled; successful abuse executes attacker commands as the JVM's account.

CVSS severity7.8
High
EPSS probability0.21%
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

Improper privilege management in Elastic APM Java Agent 1.10.0 through 1.26.0 allows local users to run commands with higher privileges. The attacher CLI and attach API accept a user-supplied file for an instrumented JVM, and the profiling inferred spans path loads that file in the agent context. A local account must reach an application JVM using those attach mechanisms or enable profiling_inferred_spans_enabled; successful abuse executes attacker commands as the JVM's account.

The record

CVE
CVE-2021-37941
Published
Dec 8, 2021
Updated
Aug 4, 2024
Vendor
Elastic
Product
Elastic APM Java Agent
Classifications
CWE-269
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Dec 8, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 4, 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=1.10.0 through 1.26.0

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Elastic · Elastic APM Java Agentversion=1.10.0 through 1.26.0

Published CVSS scores

7.0ElasticCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
4.4NVDAV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
7.8NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-269Improper Privilege Management

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