CVE-2021-1391
Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the dragonite debugger of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to escalate from privilege level 15 to root privilege. The vulnerability is due to the presence of development testing and verification scripts that remained on the device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by bypassing the consent token mechanism with the residual scripts on the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to escalate from privilege level 15 to root privilege.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- High
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the dragonite debugger of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to escalate from privilege level 15 to root privilege. The vulnerability is due to the presence of development testing and verification scripts that remained on the device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by bypassing the consent token mechanism with the residual scripts on the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to escalate from privilege level 15 to root privilege.
- Record
CVE-2021-1391- CVSS 3.1
- 5.1 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-489
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2021-6858
A vulnerability in the dragonite debugger of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to escalate from privilege level 15 to root privilege. The vulnerability is due to the presence of development testing and verification scripts that remained on the device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by bypassing the consent token mechanism with the residual scripts on the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to escalate from privilege level 15 to root privilege.
- Record
EUVD-2021-6858- CVSS 3.1
- 5.1 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-4xjv-crqf-4qqv No score
A vulnerability in the dragonite debugger of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated,...
A vulnerability in the dragonite debugger of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to escalate from privilege level 15 to root privilege. The vulnerability is due to the presence of development testing and verification scripts that remained on the device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by bypassing the consent token mechanism with the residual scripts on the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to escalate from privilege level 15 to root privilege.
- Record
GHSA-4xjv-crqf-4qqv- Weakness
- CWE-489
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
A vulnerability in the dragonite debugger of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to escalate from privilege level 15 to root privilege. The vulnerability is due to the presence of development testing and verification scripts that remained on the device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by bypassing the consent token mechanism with the residual scripts on the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to escalate from privilege level 15 to root privilege.
- Record
CVE-2021-1391- CVSS 3.1
- 5.1 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N - CVSS 3.1
- 6.7 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 7.2 High
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C - Weakness
- CWE-489
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases, published | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2021-1391 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 5.1) in Cisco Ios, published March 24, 2021. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.32%, the 24th percentile. No source names a fixed version.