Security Resilience

CVE-2024-21887

RCE in Ivanti Connect Secure 22.1 … 9.1

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedPublic PoCRansomware-linkedRCECommand Injection
Published
12 January 2024
Modified
04 August 2026
KEV Added
10 January 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.99 100.0th percentile
Risk Priority 85 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2024-21887 is a critical-severity Command Injection (CWE-77) vulnerability in Ivanti Connect Secure. Its CVSS base score is 9.1 (Critical).

Operationally, ranked in the top 0.0% 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 map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2024-21887 is a command injection vulnerability (CWE-77) residing in the web components of Ivanti Connect Secure and Ivanti Policy Secure appliances running versions 9.x and 22.x. An authenticated administrator can submit specially crafted requests that result in arbitrary command execution on the underlying appliance, reflected in the CVSS 9.1 score indicating network-accessible impact with high consequences to confidentiality, integrity Availability, and scope.

An authenticated administrator can leverage the flaw to run operating-system commands on the gateway appliance, potentially leading to full device compromise. Public references also document chaining with the related authentication-bypass issue CVE-2023-46805, enabling unauthenticated remote code execution in some deployments.

Ivanti’s advisory and CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog both list the issue, underscoring the need for immediate application of vendor patches. Packet Storm has published exploit code demonstrating the vulnerability.

The EPSS score has reached a peak of 0.9733 with a current value of 0.9441, indicating sustained and widespread exploitation interest following disclosure.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A command injection vulnerability in web components of Ivanti Connect Secure (9.x, 22.x) and Ivanti Policy Secure (9.x, 22.x) allows an authenticated administrator to send specially crafted requests and execute arbitrary commands on the appliance.

CWE(s)
CWE-77
KEV Date Added
10 January 2024

Related Threats

Threat-Actor AttributionAI

UNC5221aka UTA0178
Mandiant and Volexity attribute exploitation of CVE-2024-21887 (with CVE-2023-46805) to UNC5221/UTA0178 in espionage campaigns against Ivanti appliances.
Cutting Edge (C0029)
Threat Actors Exploit Multiple Vulnerabilities in Ivanti Connect Secure and Policy Secure Gateways | CISA
Intel Corp. (Micron 2018-2020 NAND civil counter-claims)
Threat Actors Exploit Multiple Vulnerabilities in Ivanti Connect Secure and Policy Secure Gateways | CISA
AnonOps
Threat Actors Exploit Multiple Vulnerabilities in Ivanti Connect Secure and Policy Secure Gateways | CISA
UTA0178
Threat Actors Exploit Multiple Vulnerabilities in Ivanti Connect Secure and Policy Secure Gateways | CISA
CrowdStrike (McAfee / Symantec civil claims)
Iran-based Cyber Actors Enabling Ransomware Attacks on US Organizations | CISA
Microsoft Corp. (Salesforce / Slack engineer recruitment claims)
Iran-based Cyber Actors Enabling Ransomware Attacks on US Organizations | CISA
SentinelOne (Cylance / BlackBerry civil claims)
Iran-based Cyber Actors Enabling Ransomware Attacks on US Organizations | CISA
Darkhotel (G0012)
Iran-based Cyber Actors Enabling Ransomware Attacks on US Organizations | CISA
Fox Kitten (G0117)
Iran-based Cyber Actors Enabling Ransomware Attacks on US Organizations | CISA
Pay2Key
Iran-based Cyber Actors Enabling Ransomware Attacks on US Organizations | CISA
RansomHouse
Iran-based Cyber Actors Enabling Ransomware Attacks on US Organizations | CISA
br0k3r
Iran-based Cyber Actors Enabling Ransomware Attacks on US Organizations | CISA
Amazon.com (Walmart logistics engineer recruitment civil claims)
Countering Chinese State-Sponsored Actors Compromise of Networks Worldwide to Feed Global Espionage System | CISA
Google LLC (civil insider-recruitment defendant)
Countering Chinese State-Sponsored Actors Compromise of Networks Worldwide to Feed Global Espionage System | CISA
Nokia (Huawei engineer-recruitment dispute 2007)
Countering Chinese State-Sponsored Actors Compromise of Networks Worldwide to Feed Global Espionage System | CISA
Salt Typhoon (G1045)
Countering Chinese State-Sponsored Actors Compromise of Networks Worldwide to Feed Global Espionage System | CISA

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2020-8243Same product: Ivanti Connect Secureboth on KEV
CVE-2024-11634Same product: Ivanti Connect Secure
CVE-2023-46805Same product: Ivanti Connect Secureboth on KEV
CVE-2021-22899Same product: Ivanti Connect Secureboth on KEV
CVE-2024-21893Same product: Ivanti Connect Secureboth on KEV
CVE-2025-22457Same product: Ivanti Connect Secureboth on KEV
CVE-2025-0282Same product: Ivanti Connect Secureboth on KEV
CVE-2024-37401Same product: Ivanti Connect Secure
CVE-2024-13830Same product: Ivanti Connect Secure
CVE-2024-39711Same product: Ivanti Connect Secure

Affected Assets

ivanti
connect secure
22.1, 22.2, 22.3, 22.4, 22.5
ivanti
policy secure
22.1, 22.2, 22.3, 22.4, 22.5

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation can discover command-construction flaws before deployment.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

Input validation directly stops construction of commands from untrusted data containing special elements.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Secure engineering principles include proper neutralization and safe command construction practices.

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.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
blocks

A.8.25 mandates secure SDLC practices including secure coding guidelines, security requirements, checkpoints, testing (scans/penetration), and developer training that reduce command injection defects, but leaves a minority slice (e.g. incomplete implementation of those practices, outsourced development without full assurance, or post-SDLC changes) where the weakness can still arise and be exploitable.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
blocks

Application security requirements explicitly call for controls against injection flaws including command injection.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
blocks

A.8.27 mandates security-by-design principles (e.g. distrust external input, secure session control, data validation/sanitization, least privilege) and design reviews that can stop command injection from being introduced, but this is only a minority slice of CWE-77 because the weakness can still arise in code that bypasses those principles, in non-reviewed components, or in runtime injection vectors the architecture review does not reach.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards require proper escaping and parameterization of commands, directly eliminating CWE-77.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance partial match
finds

Security testing in development catches command-injection vulnerabilities before release.

Hardening callouts derived

DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.

  • No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-77, a class-level weakness, and none of its children carries one either.

References