CVE-2021-23890 | McAfee ePO Information Leak vulnerability

Information leak vulnerability in the Agent Handler of McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator (ePO) prior to 5.10 Update 10 allows an unauthenticated user to download McAfee product packages (specifically McAfee Agent) available in ePO repository and install them on their own machines to have it managed and then in turn get policy details from the ePO server. This can only happen when the ePO Agent Handler is installed in a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to service machines not connected to the network through a VPN.

Published: 2021-03-26 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-23890 is rated Moderate Risk (45.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.91%). 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-2021-23890

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 0.97% 0.91% -0.07%
2 2026-05-04 0.72% 0.97% +0.26%
3 2025-09-04 0.72%

Full EPSS history (33 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-23890

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
3.9 2.5 [email protected]
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
3.9 2.5 [email protected]
5.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
8.6 4.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-23890

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-23890

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
mcafee epolicy_orchestrator < 5.9.1 cpe:2.3:a:mcafee:epolicy_orchestrator:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mcafee epolicy_orchestrator 5.10.0 cpe:2.3:a:mcafee:epolicy_orchestrator:5.10.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
mcafee epolicy_orchestrator 5.10.0 cpe:2.3:a:mcafee:epolicy_orchestrator:5.10.0:update_1:*:*:*:*:*:*
mcafee epolicy_orchestrator 5.10.0 cpe:2.3:a:mcafee:epolicy_orchestrator:5.10.0:update_2:*:*:*:*:*:*
mcafee epolicy_orchestrator 5.10.0 cpe:2.3:a:mcafee:epolicy_orchestrator:5.10.0:update_3:*:*:*:*:*:*
mcafee epolicy_orchestrator 5.10.0 cpe:2.3:a:mcafee:epolicy_orchestrator:5.10.0:update_4:*:*:*:*:*:*
mcafee epolicy_orchestrator 5.10.0 cpe:2.3:a:mcafee:epolicy_orchestrator:5.10.0:update_5:*:*:*:*:*:*
mcafee epolicy_orchestrator 5.10.0 cpe:2.3:a:mcafee:epolicy_orchestrator:5.10.0:update_6:*:*:*:*:*:*
mcafee epolicy_orchestrator 5.10.0 cpe:2.3:a:mcafee:epolicy_orchestrator:5.10.0:update_7:*:*:*:*:*:*
mcafee epolicy_orchestrator 5.10.0 cpe:2.3:a:mcafee:epolicy_orchestrator:5.10.0:update_8:*:*:*:*:*:*
mcafee epolicy_orchestrator 5.10.0 cpe:2.3:a:mcafee:epolicy_orchestrator:5.10.0:update_9:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-23890

cvelogic Threat Intelligence