Vulnerability

CVE-2021-1497

Critical· 9.8KEVEXPLOITCVSS9.8EPSS94%

.rules3/5

Cisco HyperFlex HX Installer Virtual Machine Command Injection Vulnerability

Cisco HyperFlex HX Installer Virtual Machine contains an insufficient input validation vulnerability which could allow an attacker to execute commands on an affected device as the root user.

Threat signal

100/100

Severe

Severity

critical

CVSS

9.8

EPSS

94%

Active

KEV

CISA KEV — actively exploited

1669d overdue

AffectedCisco — HyperFlex HX

Added to KEV

2021-11-03

Federal patch due (BOD 22-01)

2021-11-17

Required action (CISA verbatim)

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Vendor advisory + references

https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-1497

CISA description: “Cisco HyperFlex HX Installer Virtual Machine contains an insufficient input validation vulnerability which could allow an attacker to execute commands on an affected device as the root user.”

CVSS

v3.1Open in FIRST calculator →

9.8/ 10CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack VectorNetworkExploitable remotely over the internet — no local access needed.
Attack ComplexityLowNo special conditions — exploit works reliably.
Privileges RequiredNoneUnauthenticated — no credentials needed.
User InteractionNoneFully automated — no victim action needed.
ScopeUnchangedImpact contained to the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality ImpactHighTotal disclosure of sensitive data.
Integrity ImpactHighTotal compromise of integrity — full data modification possible.
Availability ImpactHighTotal loss of availability — full DoS possible.

EPSS

Exploit prediction · 30-day horizonFIRST.org →

94.4%

probability of exploitation in next 30 days

p100

higher than 100% of all CVEs

3-day trend↑ 0pp

Statistically about to be weaponized — top-tier triage urgency.

Vendor VEX

No VEX statements published for CVE-2021-1497. Vendors publish VEX (Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange) to assert per-product whether a CVE is actually exploitable in their distribution.

SSVCAct

Active exploitation with total impact on essential/support systems

exploitation: active
automatable: yes
impact: total
mission: support

Lifecycle

2021-11-03Added to CISA KEVransomware: Unknown
2021-11-03Public exploit observedmetasploit
2021-11-03Published
2021-11-17Federal patch due (BOD 22-01)
2026-06-12Last modified1 source

No source-event history recorded yet. New revisions will appear here as ingestors re-fetch this CVE.