CVE-2021-22893Pulse Connect Secure 9.0R3/9.1R1 and higher is vulnerable to an authentication bypass vulnerability exposed by the Windows File Share…
- 10.0CriticalCVSS base score
- 47.5%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 1.1% of all CVEs
- YesKnown exploitedin CISA's KEV since 3 Nov 2021
- YesPublic exploitsa reference or SSVC says so
Description
Pulse Connect Secure 9.0R3/9.1R1 and higher is vulnerable to an authentication bypass vulnerability exposed by the Windows File Share Browser and Pulse Secure Collaboration features of Pulse Connect Secure that can allow an unauthenticated user to perform remote arbitrary code execution on the Pulse Connect Secure gateway. This vulnerability has been exploited in the wild.
Exploited in the wild
CISA lists this vulnerability in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as Ivanti Pulse Connect Secure Use-After-Free Vulnerability.
- Added
- 3 Nov 2021
- Fix due (US federal)
- 3 May 2022
- Used by ransomware
- Known
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
ENISA's EU Vulnerability Database lists it as exploited, from CISA's KEV, since 3 Nov 2021.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: it is being exploited.
Timeline
ID reserved
By hackerone
- 4 months later
· 4 months later
Published
- 6 months later
· 6 months later
Added to CISA KEV
Known exploited, also by ransomware
- 5 years later
· 5 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CISA-ADPADP (enrichment) | 3.1 | Critical10.0 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | Critical10.0 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 47.5% · top 1.1% of all CVEs (13 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Critical 10.0.
Affected products
Pulse Connect Secure
- affected PCS 9.0R3 or above, PCS 9.1R1 and above
References
References6
- https://kb.pulsesecure.net/articles/Pulse_Security_Advisories/SA44784/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://blog.pulsesecure.net/pulse-connect-secure-security-update/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2021/04/suspected-apt-actors-leverage-bypass-techniques-pulse-secure-zero-day.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://kb.cert.org/vuls/id/213092 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/213092 (opens in a new tab)
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-22893 (opens in a new tab)government-resource
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- CISA KEV catalog (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2021-10025 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2021-22893)Record last updated .