Skip to content

CVE-2021-27878

Improper Authentication — is CVE-2021-27878real, exploitable, or a false positive? Here's the community ground truth.

☆ Watch
High · CVSS 8.8EPSS 23.6%CISA KEVCWE-287 · Improper Authentication

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

An issue was discovered in Veritas Backup Exec before 21.2. The communication between a client and an Agent requires successful authentication, which is typically completed over a secure TLS communication. However, due to a vulnerability in the SHA Authentication scheme, an attacker is able to gain unauthorized access and complete the authentication process. Subsequently, the client can execute data management protocol commands on the authenticated connection. The attacker could use one of these commands to execute an arbitrary command on the system using system privileges.

References

NVD MITRE CVE.org CISA KEV

Published

Embed this verdict
TruePositive verdict for CVE-2021-27878
Markdown
[![TruePositive verdict](https://www.truepositive.app/cve/CVE-2021-27878/badge.svg)](https://www.truepositive.app/cve/CVE-2021-27878)
HTML
<a href="https://www.truepositive.app/cve/CVE-2021-27878"><img src="https://www.truepositive.app/cve/CVE-2021-27878/badge.svg" alt="TruePositive verdict for CVE-2021-27878"></a>

Live badge — updates automatically as the community verdict changes.

Community ground truth

Community verdict

2 verdicts
Not a real issue

Includes TruePositive's curated baseline from public sources — community verdicts accrue on top.

Pick your verdict — we'll save it right after a quick sign-in.

Community real-world severity: Critical (Critical 2) — CVSS base score 8.8

Practitioners rate this higher than its CVSS — treat with extra caution.

Field notes & remediation

Verdicts are the quick signal — notes are the evidence and fixes behind them.

  • 0
    Field note · Tomáš NovákCurated

    Veritas Backup Exec Agent Command Execution Vulnerability — Veritas Backup Exec (BE) Agent contains a command execution vulnerability that could allow an attacker to use a data management protocol command to execute a command on the BE Agent machine. Listed in the CISA KEV catalog (added 2023-04-07) — confirmed exploited in the wild, not theoretical. It is linked to known ransomware campaigns. FIRST EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at ~24%. Treat it as real and prioritize remediation over triage.

  • 0
    Remediation · Lin WeiCurated

    Required action for Veritas Backup Exec Agent: Apply updates per vendor instructions. CISA set a federal remediation due date of 2023-04-28. After patching, verify the vulnerable path is no longer reachable before closing the finding.

Related CVEs

Same weakness — CWE-287 · Improper Authentication.