{"id":"CVE-2021-27878","aliases":["EUVD-2021-14616","GHSA-6r93-82vq-9w4w"],"status":"published","title":"An issue was discovered in Veritas Backup Exec before 21.2. The communication between a client...","description":"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.","severity":{"version":"3.1","score":8.8,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AC:L/AV:N/A:H/C:H/I:H/PR:L/S:U/UI:N","level":"high","assessor":"cna","from":"cve"},"epss":{"day":"2026-11-12","score":0.23952,"percentile":0.97866,"model":"v2026.06.15"},"facts":{"in_kev":true,"known_exploited":true,"public_exploit":true,"fix_available":false},"cwes":["CWE-287"],"published":"2021-03-01T21:49:24Z","modified":"2026-06-17T03:45:33Z","kev":{"date_added":"2023-04-07","due_date":"2023-04-28","required_action":"Apply updates per vendor instructions.","known_ransomware_use":"Known"},"exploitation":[{"source":"euvd","since":"2023-04-07"},{"source":"kev","since":"2023-04-07"}],"exploits":[{"source":"metasploit","id":"exploit/multi/veritas/beagent_sha_auth_rce","title":"Veritas Backup Exec Agent Remote Code Execution","type":"exploit","platform":"Linux,Windows","date":"2021-03-01","verified":true,"url":"https://www.rapid7.com/db/modules/exploit/multi/veritas/beagent_sha_auth_rce"}],"products":[{"vendor":"veritas","product":"backup exec agent"},{"vendor":"veritas","product":"backup_exec"}],"references":[{"url":"https://www.veritas.com/content/support/en_US/security/VTS21-001#issue3","tags":["x_refsource_MISC","x_transferred","Vendor Advisory"]},{"url":"http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/168506/Veritas-Backup-Exec-Agent-Remote-Code-Execution.html","tags":["x_refsource_MISC","x_transferred","Exploit","Third Party Advisory","VDB Entry"]},{"url":"https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-27878","tags":["government-resource","US Government Resource"]},{"url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-27878"},{"url":"https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-6r93-82vq-9w4w"}],"sources":{"cve":[{"id":"CVE-2021-27878","description":"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.","status":"published","published":"2021-03-01T21:49:24Z","modified":"2025-10-21T23:25:53.483Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":8.8,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AC:L/AV:N/A:H/C:H/I:H/PR:L/S:U/UI:N","level":"high","assessor":"cna"}],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:33:04.360272Z"}],"euvd":[{"id":"EUVD-2021-14616","description":"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.","status":"published","published":"2021-03-01T21:49:24Z","modified":"2025-10-21T23:25:53Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":8.8,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AC:L/AV:N/A:H/C:H/I:H/PR:L/S:U/UI:N","level":"high"}],"exploited_since":"2023-04-07","updated_at":"2026-11-02T20:31:25.308373Z"}],"ghsa":[{"id":"GHSA-6r93-82vq-9w4w","title":"An issue was discovered in Veritas Backup Exec before 21.2. The communication between a client...","description":"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.","status":"published","published":"2022-05-24T17:43:26Z","modified":"2025-10-22T00:32:04Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":8.8,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","level":"high"}],"cwes":["CWE-287"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:04:04.786232Z"}],"kev":[{"id":"CVE-2021-27878","title":"Veritas Backup Exec Agent Command Execution Vulnerability","description":"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.","cwes":["CWE-287"],"kev":{"date_added":"2023-04-07","due_date":"2023-04-28","required_action":"Apply updates per vendor instructions.","known_ransomware_use":"Known"},"updated_at":"2026-11-02T17:00:16.234141Z"}],"nvd":[{"id":"CVE-2021-27878","description":"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.","status":"published","published":"2021-03-01T22:15:14.537Z","modified":"2026-06-17T03:45:33.063Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":8.8,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","level":"high","assessor":"secondary"},{"version":"3.1","score":8.8,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","level":"high","assessor":"primary"},{"version":"2.0","score":9,"vector":"AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C","level":"high","assessor":"primary"}],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:06:50.399901Z"}]}}