CVE-2021-20290

Exp

An improper authorization handling flaw was found in Foreman. The OpenSCAP plugin for the smart-proxy allows foreman clients to execute actions that should be limited to the Foreman Server. This flaw allows an authenticated local attacker to access and delete limited resources and also causes a denial of service on the Foreman server. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to integrity and system availability.

Published: 2022-03-25 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-20290 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.22%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2021-20290

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-20290

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 0.03% 0.22% +0.19%
2 2026-03-18 0.08% 0.03% -0.06%
3 2025-11-21 0.08%

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-20290

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.1 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 4.2 [email protected]
3.6 2.0 LOW
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
3.9 4.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-20290

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-20290

vendor priority summary link
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-20290

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-20290

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
theforeman openscap < 0.9.1 cpe:2.3:a:theforeman:openscap:*:*:*:*:*:foreman:*:*

References for CVE-2021-20290

URL Tags
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1939701 Exploit Issue Tracking Mitigation Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence