CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2021-1393 — Cisco Application Services Engine security vulnerability

Critical CVSS 9.8

Multiple vulnerabilities in Cisco Application Services Engine could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to gain privileged access to host-level operations or to learn device-specific information, create diagnostic files, and make limited configuration changes. For more information about these vulnerabilities, see the Details section of this advisory.

Severity
Critical
CVSS
9.8 (3.1)
Published
2021-02-24
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-306

Affected products

  • cisco / application_services_engine
  • cisco / application_policy_infrastructure_controller / 1.1.3

Showing 2 representative product identities from 3 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Authentication bypass and missing authentication

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Check exposure

  • Map every affected endpoint and protocol path, including alternate ports, legacy routes, recovery flows, service accounts, and machine-to-machine access.
  • Confirm which deployments enable the affected authentication mode and whether the interface is reachable from untrusted networks.
  • Review session, token, credential, and proxy trust configuration without attempting account takeover.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and centralize fail-closed authentication before protected request handling.
  • Remove default or embedded credentials, rotate affected secrets and sessions, and bind authentication decisions to the intended audience and channel.
  • Add negative tests for alternate routes, malformed or absent credentials, recovery flows, and proxy-derived identity.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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