CVE-2021-1281: Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Severity: medium (CVSS 6.7 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2021-03-24 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-399

Description

A vulnerability in CLI management in Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to access the underlying operating system as the root user. This vulnerability is due to the way the software handles concurrent CLI sessions. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the device as an administrative user and executing a sequence of commands. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to obtain access to the underlying operating system as the root user.

Affected products

Cisco IOS XE: 16.9.1, 16.9.2, 16.9.3, 16.9.4, 16.10.1, 16.10.1a (+53)

References

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