Cyber Resilience

CVE-2021-25297

HighCISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedPublic PoCRCE

Published: 15 February 2021

Published
15 February 2021
Modified
03 November 2025
KEV Added
18 January 2022
Patch
—
CVSS Score v3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.8187 99.2th percentile
Risk Priority 87 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2021-25297 is a high-severity OS Command Injection (CWE-78) vulnerability in Nagios Nagios Xi. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, ranked in the top 0.8% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).

Deeper analysis

Nagios XI version xi-5.7.5 contains an OS command injection vulnerability in the file /usr/local/nagiosxi/html/includes/configwizards/switch/switch.inc.php. The flaw stems from insufficient sanitization of user-controlled input supplied over a single HTTP request and is tracked under CWE-78 with a CVSS 3.1 score of 8.8.

An authenticated attacker with network access can submit a crafted request to the affected component and execute arbitrary operating-system commands on the Nagios XI server, resulting in full confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact without user interaction.

Public exploit code has been posted to Packet Storm and a detailed bug report is available on GitHub; the Nagios versions page and vendor site provide the authoritative locations for subsequent software updates.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

Nagios XI version xi-5.7.5 is affected by OS command injection. The vulnerability exists in the file /usr/local/nagiosxi/html/includes/configwizards/switch/switch.inc.php due to improper sanitization of authenticated user-controlled input by a single HTTP request, which can lead to OS command injection on the Nagios…

more

XI server.

CWE(s)
NVD-CWE-OtherCWE-78
KEV Date Added
18 January 2022

Related Threats

No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.

Affected Assets

nagios
nagios xi
5.5.6 — 5.7.5

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match
prevent

Directly requires validation and sanitization of untrusted input to block the OS command injection in switch.inc.php.

AC-6 Least Privilege partial match
prevent

Limits privileges of authenticated Nagios users so a successful injection cannot achieve full system compromise.

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match
prevent

Mandates timely application of vendor patches that eliminate the CWE-78 flaw in the affected configwizard component.

References