critical Known exploitedREV. 01

CVE-2021-44515ManageEngine Desktop Central — Authentication Bypass to Code Execution

Zoho's endpoint management server can be reached without authenticating, and from there an attacker runs code on the machine that administers every managed desktop.

YOUR NEXT MOVE

Apply Zoho's fix for Desktop Central, and treat every managed endpoint as suspect if the server was exposed.

Read the risk

THE VITAL STATS
CVSS score
9.8/ 10
CVSS v3.1
EPSS probability
100%
Likelihood of exploitation
Attack complexity
Low
Conditions needed to exploit
Known exploited
Yes — CISA KEV
CVE published
2021-12-12
Added to KEV
2021-12-10
Exploit published
Yes
Confidence
medium
Kill chain
initial access
MITRE ATT&CK
T1190
Severity
critical

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attacker needsNetwork access to the management server

Behind the card

5 REFERENCES
Field-level provenanceTRACE THE SOURCES +

Which source supports each field, when it was retrieved, and who extracted it.

FieldsSourceRetrievedExtractorConfidence
cvss, exploitation.attack_complexity, exploitation.exploit_available, references, published_atnvd.nist.gov2026-08-07scrty-crds-pipeline/0.1high
exploitation.known_exploited, exploitation.kev_addedcisa.gov2026-08-07scrty-crds-pipeline/0.1high
epssapi.first.org2026-08-07scrty-crds-pipeline/0.1high
title, summary, severity, remediation, mitre_attack, kill_chain, recommended_action, confidence, tags, exploitation.prerequisitesnvd.nist.gov2026-08-07claude-codehigh

Printing history

THE RECORD
  1. r1Initial base card

First printing. This card has not been reprinted since publication.

crds:cve-2021-44515 · CRDS 0.1 · Issued 2026-08-07