Skip to content

CVE-2021-27878

Improper Authentication: Is CVE-2021-27878 real, exploitable, or a false positive? Here's the community verdict.

☆ Watch

signals

public sources

Exploited in wild
Yes
CISA KEV
Public exploit
Metasploit
Metasploit/EDB/PoC
Base severity
8.8 High
CVSS
Exploitation prob.
24%
FIRST EPSS
Weakness
CWE-287 · Improper Authentication
CWE

Confirmed exploited in the wild. Patch this first, regardless of the base score.

public exploits

links to sources — we don’t host code
Metasploit

A working exploit is publicly available from a maintained source. Treat this as higher urgency and verify your exposure.

baseline read

auto · not a community verdict

Real — exploited in the wild

CISA confirms active exploitation. Treat scanner hits as true positives unless your specific version or config is unaffected.

Based on CISA KEV

Confirm or dispute →

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 that updates automatically as the community verdict changes.

Community ground truth

Be the first practitioner to weigh in

So far this is only TruePositive's editorial baseline from public sources. Add your real-world verdict below — it becomes the signal the next person triaging this relies on.

🥇 The first 50 practitioners to contribute earn a Founding Contributor badge.

In your experience, is this finding real and exploitable?

awaiting field verdicts
Real, but not a risk here
Not a real issue

Curated baseline: TruePositive's read from public sources is Real & exploitable — a starting point, not a community verdict.

No account needed. Anonymous verdicts post as an unverified signal. Log in to make yours verified and earn reputation.

Field notes & remediation

Verdicts are the quick signal. Notes are the evidence and fixes behind them.

  • 0
    Field note · TruePositive EditorialCurated

    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 · TruePositive EditorialCurated

    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.

Add a field note or remediationoptional
Note type

What are you adding?

Markdown supported · minimum 20 characters.

Related CVEs

Same weakness: CWE-287 · Improper Authentication.