CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2021-1578 — Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller security vulnerability

High CVSS 9

A vulnerability in an API endpoint of Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) and Cisco Cloud Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (Cloud APIC) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to elevate privileges to Administrator on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to an improper policy default setting. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by using a non-privileged credential for Cisco ACI Multi-Site Orchestrator (MSO) to send a specific API request to a managed Cisco APIC or Cloud APIC device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to obtain Administrator credentials on the affected device.

Severity
High
CVSS
9 (2.0)
Published
2021-08-25
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-636, CWE-755

Affected products

  • cisco / application_policy_infrastructure_controller
  • cisco / application_policy_infrastructure_controller / 5.0(2h)
  • cisco / cloud_application_policy_infrastructure_controller
  • cisco / cloud_application_policy_infrastructure_controller / 5.0(2h)

Matched remediation archetype

General vulnerability remediation

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Confirm the affected component, deployment paths, reachable interfaces, and enabled features from inventories and configuration, without probing production destructively.
  • Compare the advisory's affected conditions with the repository lockfiles, build manifests, artifacts, and runtime inventory.
  • Identify data sensitivity, trust boundaries, and privilege level for every confirmed affected deployment.

Remediate safely

  • Apply a vendor-supported fix or remove the affected component or feature; record the selected change and its source in the repository.
  • Update direct and transitive dependency locks, generated artifacts, deployment manifests, and asset inventories together.
  • Add a regression test for the documented unsafe condition using inert inputs and preserve rollback instructions.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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