CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2021-21998 — VMware Carbon Black App Control 8.0, 8.1, 8.5 prior to 8.5.8, and 8.6 prior to 8.6.2 has an authentication bypass

Critical CVSS 9.8

VMware Carbon Black App Control 8.0, 8.1, 8.5 prior to 8.5.8, and 8.6 prior to 8.6.2 has an authentication bypass. A malicious actor with network access to the VMware Carbon Black App Control management server might be able to obtain administrative access to the product without the need to authenticate.

Severity
Critical
CVSS
9.8 (3.1)
Published
2021-06-23
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-287

Affected products

  • vmware / carbon_black_app_control
  • vmware / carbon_black_app_control / 8.0
  • vmware / carbon_black_app_control / 8.1

Showing 3 representative product identities from 4 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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