What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2021-44515: Zoho Desktop Central Authentication Bypass Vulnerability

• Severity: critical (CVSS 9.8 v3.1)
• Exploited in the wild: yes — in CISA KEV since 2021-12-10
• EPSS: 99.9% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: yes
• Published: 2021-12-12 · updated 2026-06-17

Description

Zoho ManageEngine Desktop Central is vulnerable to authentication bypass, leading to remote code execution on the server, as exploited in the wild in December 2021. For Enterprise builds 10.1.2127.17 and earlier, upgrade to 10.1.2127.18. For Enterprise builds 10.1.2128.0 through 10.1.2137.2, upgrade to 10.1.2137.3. For MSP builds 10.1.2127.17 and earlier, upgrade to 10.1.2127.18. For MSP builds 10.1.2128.0 through 10.1.2137.2, upgrade to 10.1.2137.3.

Affected products

• ManageEngine Desktop Central: before 10.1.2127.18; from 10.1.2128.0 before 10.1.2137.3 — fixed in 10.1.2127.18, 10.1.2137.3

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: ManageEngine Desktop Central 10.1.2127.18, 10.1.2137.3. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://pitstop.manageengine.com/portal/en/community/topic/an-authentication-bypass-vulnerability-identified-and-fixed-in-desktop-central-and-desktop-central-msp
• https://www.cisa.gov/uscert/ncas/current-activity/2021/12/10/cisa-adds-thirteen-known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog
• https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/cve-2021-44515-authentication-bypass-filter-configuration.html
• https://pitstop.manageengine.com/portal/en/community/topic/an-authentication-bypass-vulnerability-identified-and-fixed-in-desktop-central-and-desktop-central-msp
• https://www.cisa.gov/uscert/ncas/current-activity/2021/12/10/cisa-adds-thirteen-known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog
• https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/cve-2021-44515-authentication-bypass-filter-configuration.html
• https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-44515

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