CVE-2021-1437 | Cisco Aironet Access Points FlexConnect Upgrade Information Disclosure Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the FlexConnect Upgrade feature of Cisco Aironet Series Access Points Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to obtain confidential information from an affected device. This vulnerability is due to an unrestricted Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) configuration. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a specific TFTP request to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to download any file from the filesystem of the affected access point (AP).

Published: 2021-03-24 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-1437 is rated Moderate Risk (55.8/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.49%). Core evidence: EPSS rose +1.01% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-1437

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.48% 1.49% +1.01%
2 2025-10-22 0.72% 0.48% -0.24%
3 2025-03-30 0.72%

Full EPSS history (11 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-1437

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
3.9 3.6 [email protected]
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
3.9 3.6 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-1437

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-1437

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
cisco aironet_access_point_software cpe:2.3:a:cisco:aironet_access_point_software:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco catalyst_9800_firmware >= 17.1, < 17.3.3 cpe:2.3:o:cisco:catalyst_9800_firmware:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco wireless_lan_controller_software >= 8.10.112.0, < 8.10.142.0 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:wireless_lan_controller_software:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-1437

cvelogic Threat Intelligence