Security Resilience

CVE-2024-21888

Ivanti Connect Secure 21.12 … 9.1

High EPSS
Published
31 January 2024
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.85 99.7th percentile
Risk Priority 90 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-2024-21888 is a high-severity Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269) vulnerability in Ivanti Connect Secure. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, ranked in the top 0.3% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-2 (Account Management) and AC-24 (Access Control Decisions) — 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.

A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the web component of Ivanti Connect Secure versions 9.x and 22.x as well as Ivanti Policy Secure versions 9.x and 22.x. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2024-21888, permits an authenticated user to elevate privileges to administrator level and carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 8.8 reflecting network attack vector, low complexity, and low required privileges.

An attacker with a low-privileged account on the affected appliance can send specially crafted requests to the web interface and obtain full administrative control over the system, resulting in complete confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.

Ivanti has published mitigation guidance in its security advisory at the referenced forum URLs. The EPSS score for this CVE currently stands at 0.6126 with a recorded peak of 0.6400.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A privilege escalation vulnerability in web component of Ivanti Connect Secure (9.x, 22.x) and Ivanti Policy Secure (9.x, 22.x) allows a user to elevate privileges to that of an administrator.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

Threat-Actor AttributionAI

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

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-37401Same product: Ivanti Connect Secure
CVE-2024-13830Same product: Ivanti Connect Secure
CVE-2024-21887Same product: Ivanti Connect Secure
CVE-2024-39711Same product: Ivanti Connect Secure
CVE-2024-8495Same product: Ivanti Connect Secure
CVE-2020-8243Same product: Ivanti Connect Secure
CVE-2024-39712Same product: Ivanti Connect Secure
CVE-2024-47905Same product: Ivanti Connect Secure
CVE-2024-11006Same product: Ivanti Connect Secure
CVE-2024-12058Same product: Ivanti Connect Secure

Affected Assets

ivanti
connect secure
21.12, 21.9, 22.1, 22.2, 22.3
ivanti
policy secure
22.1, 22.2, 22.3, 22.4, 22.5

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Account management directly governs assignment and tracking of privileges so proper implementation stops the weakness from being introduced.

Requiring explicit access-control decisions ensures privileges are evaluated rather than assumed or omitted.

Access enforcement applies the correct privilege checks at every request, structurally preventing unintended spheres of control.

Separation of duties constrains how privileges may be assigned, reducing the chance of overly broad actor control.

Least privilege is the direct countermeasure to improper privilege management; implementing it eliminates the root cause.

Binding security attributes to subjects/objects supplies the mechanism needed to track and enforce privileges correctly.

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.

blocks

A.5.15 directly mandates determining access requirements, defining/enforcing topic-specific access control policy, assigning rights/restrictions by entity/role, consistency with classification, need-to-know, privileged access restrictions, segregation, formal authorization, and dynamic rules — which stops most improper privilege management from being exploitable; bounded remainder is flawed implementation of those rules (e.g. incorrect mapping or enforcement bugs).

blocks

A.5.18 directly governs the provisioning, review, modification and timely revocation of access rights (including for role changes, termination and privilege levels), which stops most improper privilege spheres from being exploitable even if the assignment flaw exists; the bounded remainder is flaws in the underlying enforcement mechanism itself (e.g. AC-3/A.8.3)

blocks

Defining and communicating authorization levels for each role limits the assignment of excessive or unnecessary privileges.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
finds

Logging every use of privileges and protecting those records makes it harder for an attacker who has obtained elevated rights to operate without leaving evidence.

blocks

A.8.2 directly controls the identification, allocation, review, expiry, temporary use, and separation of privileged rights per policy, which prevents most improper privilege management (CWE-269) by design; the bounded remainder is flawed tracking/checking logic inside the product's own enforcement code (the AC-3 slice of 269).

blocks

A.8.27 mandates security-by-design principles including least privilege, default deny, fail securely, defence in depth, security architecture integration, hardening, and zero-trust verification of every request; these directly stop most improper privilege spheres from being exploitable even if the assignment flaw remains, with a bounded remainder (e.g. certain legacy or safety-overridden controls).

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.

References