CVE-2021-40119: Cisco Policy Suite Static SSH Keys Vulnerability

Severity: critical (CVSS 9.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 2.5% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2021-11-04 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-321

Description

A vulnerability in the key-based SSH authentication mechanism of Cisco Policy Suite could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to log in to an affected system as the root user. This vulnerability is due to the re-use of static SSH keys across installations. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by extracting a key from a system under their control. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to log in to an affected system as the root user.

Affected products

Cisco Policy Suite: before 21.1.0 — fixed in 21.1.0

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Cisco Policy Suite 21.1.0. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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