CVE-2021-1562 | Cisco BroadWorks Application Server Information Disclosure Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the XSI-Actions interface of Cisco BroadWorks Application Server could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to access sensitive information on an affected system. This vulnerability is due to improper input validation and authorization of specific commands that a user can execute within the XSI-Actions interface. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to an affected device and issuing a specific set of commands. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to join a Call Center instance and have calls that they do not have permissions to access distributed to them from the Call Center queue. At the time of publication, Cisco had not released updates that address this vulnerability for Cisco BroadWorks Application Server. However, firmware patches are available.

Published: 2021-07-08 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-1562 is rated Low Risk (36.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.87%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2021-1562

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 0.21% 0.87% +0.67%
2 2026-02-27 0.11% 0.21% +0.09%
3 2025-10-22 0.11%

Full EPSS history (11 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-1562

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
2.8 1.4 [email protected]
4.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
2.8 1.4 [email protected]
4.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/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:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
8.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-1562

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-1562

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
cisco broadworks_application_server >= 22.0, < 22.0.2020.08 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:broadworks_application_server:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco broadworks_application_server >= 23.0, < 23.0.2020.08 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:broadworks_application_server:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco broadworks_application_server >= 24.0, < 24.0.2020.08 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:broadworks_application_server:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-1562

cvelogic Threat Intelligence