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CVE-2021-1442

Cisco IOS XE Software Plug-and-Play Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

HIGH
7.8
CVSS Score
Published: March 24, 2021 at 08:06 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 03:31 AM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorIOS Xe

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Severity
HIGH7.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

A vulnerability in a diagnostic command for the Plug-and-Play (PnP) subsystem of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to the level of an Administrator user (level 15) on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insufficient protection of sensitive information. An attacker with low privileges could exploit this vulnerability by issuing the diagnostic CLI show pnp profile when a specific PnP listener is enabled on the device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to obtain a privileged authentication token. This token can be used to send crafted PnP messages and execute privileged commands on the targeted system.

Affected

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

IOS Xe· Cisco
95%
16.1.116.1.216.1.316.10.116.10.1a16.10.1b16.10.1c16.10.1d16.10.1e16.10.1f16.10.1g16.10.1s16.10.216.10.316.11.116.11.1a16.11.1b16.11.1c16.11.1s16.11.216.12.116.12.1a16.12.1c16.12.1s16.12.1t16.12.1w16.12.1x16.12.1y16.12.1z16.12.216.12.2a16.12.2s16.12.2t16.12.316.12.3a16.12.3s16.12.416.12.4a16.2.116.2.216.3.116.3.1016.3.1116.3.1a16.3.216.3.316.3.416.3.516.3.5b16.3.616.3.716.3.816.3.916.4.116.4.216.4.316.5.116.5.1a16.5.1b16.5.216.5.316.6.116.6.216.6.316.6.416.6.4a16.6.4s16.6.516.6.5a16.6.5b16.6.616.6.716.6.7a16.6.816.7.116.7.1a16.7.1b16.7.216.7.316.7.416.8.116.8.1a16.8.1b16.8.1c16.8.1d16.8.1e16.8.1s16.8.216.8.316.9.116.9.1a16.9.1b16.9.1c16.9.1d16.9.1s16.9.216.9.2a16.9.2s16.9.316.9.3a16.9.3h16.9.3s16.9.416.9.4c16.9.516.9.5f16.9.617.1.117.1.1a17.1.1s17.1.1t17.1.217.2.117.2.1a17.2.1r17.2.1v3.10.0ce3.10.0e3.10.1ae3.10.1e3.10.1se3.10.2e3.10.3e3.11.0e3.11.1ae3.11.1e3.11.2ae3.11.2e3.13.10s3.13.8s3.13.9s3.16.0as3.16.0bs3.16.0cs3.16.0s3.16.10as3.16.10s3.16.1as3.16.1s3.16.2as3.16.2bs3.16.2s3.16.3as3.16.3s3.16.4as3.16.4bs3.16.4cs3.16.4ds3.16.4es3.16.4gs3.16.4s3.16.5as3.16.5bs3.16.5s3.16.6bs3.16.6s3.16.7as3.16.7bs3.16.7s3.16.8s3.16.9s3.17.0s3.17.1as3.17.1s3.17.2s3.17.3s3.17.4s3.18.0as3.18.0s3.18.0sp3.18.1asp3.18.1bsp3.18.1csp3.18.1gsp3.18.1hsp3.18.1isp3.18.1s3.18.1sp3.18.2asp3.18.2s3.18.2sp3.18.3asp3.18.3bsp3.18.3s3.18.3sp3.18.4s3.18.4sp3.18.5sp3.18.6sp3.18.7sp3.18.8asp3.18.8sp3.6.10e3.6.3e3.6.4e3.6.5ae3.6.5be3.6.5e3.6.6e3.6.7ae3.6.7be3.6.7e3.6.8e3.6.9ae3.6.9e3.7.3e3.7.4e3.7.5e3.8.0e3.8.10e3.8.1e3.8.2e3.8.3e3.8.4e3.8.5ae3.8.5e3.8.6e3.8.7e3.8.8e3.8.9e3.9.0e3.9.1e3.9.2be3.9.2e

Remediation

No guide yet

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

Patch and advisory references

References (1)

Vendor Advisoryx_refsource_CISCO
Source: [email protected]
https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ios-xe-pnp-priv-esc-AmG3kuVL

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

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

CVSS

7.8HIGH[email protected]
Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-532

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