Cyber Resilience

CVE-2021-28958

RCE in Zohocorp Manageengine Adselfservice Plus 4.5 … 6.1

High EPSSRCECommand Injection
Published
25 June 2021
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.73 99.4th percentile
Risk Priority 97 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2021-28958 is a critical-severity OS Command Injection (CWE-78) vulnerability in Zohocorp Manageengine Adselfservice Plus. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, ranked in the top 0.6% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Zoho ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus through 6101 is vulnerable to unauthenticated Remote Code Execution while changing the password.

CWE(s)
CWE-78

Related Threats

Likely ATT&CK TechniquesAI

Techniques this vulnerability likely enables, inferred from its description, weakness type, and attributed-actor tradecraft. Confidence is per-technique.

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Accessconfidence: HIGH
Unauthenticated RCE via password change endpoint directly enables exploitation of a public-facing application.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Executionconfidence: HIGH
CWE-78 OS command injection allows arbitrary command execution on the target system.
attack.mitre.org →
inferred from description + CWE · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2022-28810Same product: Zohocorp Manageengine Adselfservice Plus
CVE-2025-1723Same product: Zohocorp Manageengine Adselfservice Plus
CVE-2023-35719Same product: Zohocorp Manageengine Adselfservice Plus
CVE-2023-35854Same product: Zohocorp Manageengine Adselfservice Plus
CVE-2024-27310Same product: Zohocorp Manageengine Adselfservice Plus
CVE-2021-33256Same product: Zohocorp Manageengine Adselfservice Plus
CVE-2025-11250Same product: Zohocorp Manageengine Adselfservice Plus
CVE-2024-0252Same product: Zohocorp Manageengine Adselfservice Plus
CVE-2025-3833Same product: Zohocorp Manageengine Adselfservice Plus
CVE-2021-40539Same product: Zohocorp Manageengine Adselfservice Plus

Affected Assets

zohocorp
manageengine adselfservice plus
4.5, 5.0, 5.0.6, 5.1, 5.2

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.2.5
  • V1.2.8
  • V15.2.5

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

SC-27 Platform-independent Applications
addresses: CWE-78

Platform-independent apps typically execute inside a managed runtime or sandbox that restricts direct OS command execution, reducing the ability to exploit OS command injection.

SI-10 Information Input Validation
addresses: CWE-78

Validates inputs to block special elements that would alter OS command execution.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

PR.PS-06's SDLC practices directly require secure coding and input handling that blocks command-injection defects, yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors and verification gaps unaddressed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching/maintenance can remediate known command-injection CVEs in dependencies (partial forward) but does nothing to stop developers from introducing improper neutralization in custom code (none reverse).

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
detects

Security testing and code review target insecure use of operating-system command interfaces, catching command-injection flaws introduced during development.

References