CVE-2021-1359

Cisco Web Security Appliance Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

HIGH
8.8
CVSS Score
Published: July 8, 2021 at 06:35 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 03:31 AM UTC
2 products affected across 1 vendorWeb Security ApplianceAsyncos

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Severity
HIGH8.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

A vulnerability in the configuration management of Cisco AsyncOS for Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to perform command injection and elevate privileges to root. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied XML input for the web interface. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by uploading crafted XML configuration files that contain scripting code to a vulnerable device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system and elevate privileges to root. An attacker would need a valid user account with the rights to upload configuration files to exploit this vulnerability.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

11.8.0 ≤ v < 12.0.3-00512.5.0 ≤ v < 12.5.2
Affected range stops below 12.0.3-005, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 12.5.2, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-112NVD-CWE-Other

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