Dell dbutil_2_3.sys driver contains an insufficient access control vulnerability which may lead to escalation of privileges, denial of service, or information disclosure. Local authenticated user access is required.
CVE-2021-21551
“▲” beside the score: it is higher than NVD's CVSS score.
Score elevated to 9.0 because this CVE is listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-03-31), indicating real-world exploitation has been confirmed by US federal agencies. NVD baseline CVSS 8.8 retained for reference. The 9.0 is the floor for confirmed exploitation, not an impact rating: this CVE's impact severity (EG Severity) is CVSS 8.8 HIGH under NVD CVSS v3. Confidence: HIGH.
Also known asEUVD-2021-8823 (ENISA EUVD) · GHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 (GitHub Security Advisories)Source: ENISA EUVD
- Actively exploited in the wild (CISA-KEV) — the reason this is sooner than the SSVC decision on this page at low or medium mission impact
No fix has been recorded since the CVE record was published in 2021 — use a compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and check the vendor's advisory.
- CVSS v3
- 8.8
- EG Score
- 9.0CRITICALhigh confidence
- EG Risk
- 80EG Risk 80/100
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score. It fuses impact severity (EG Severity, the CVSS base score, never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score) with real-world exploitation and automatability, under weights EchelonGraph set by hand, so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner.
How it’s computed (value × EchelonGraph’s weight)Severity88% × 45%Impact severity (EG Severity): CVSS 8.8 of 10. Never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score.Exploitation100% × 40%Fixed at 100% for a CISA KEV listing: EchelonGraph's rule.Automatability0% × 15%CISA's SSVC Automatable value: no (Vulnrichment).SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Track at low, Attend at medium and Act at high mission impact.Exploitation active (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE.Action: No fix has been recorded since the CVE record was published in 2021. Check the vendor's advisory for a fixed release; until one is applied, restrict network exposure of the affected system or apply the vendor's mitigation on your normal schedule at low, sooner than that at medium and as soon as possible at high mission impact. - EPSS PROB
- 80%
- EPSS %ILE
- 99th
- KEV
- ⚠ Exploited
What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)
The EG score (9.0): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 9.0 is the CISA KEV floor for confirmed exploitation, not an impact rating: its impact severity (EG Severity) is CVSS 8.8 HIGH.
- EG Severity
- 8.8 HIGHCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.NVD CVSS v3 · CVSS v3.0 or v3.1
- EG Likelihood
- 80% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-11-01). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
- Confirmed exploitation
- CISA KEV and EG-KEV Tier 1 (exploited in the wild)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
- EG Priority
- SSVC Attend at medium mission impactTrack at low, Attend at medium and Act at high mission impact.CISA BOD 26-04: 3 days & forensic triage if the affected system is publicly exposed; 14 days if it is not.No released fix is confirmed on this page, but CISA's timeline does not wait for a fix's release: this CVE is in CISA's KEV catalog, and CISA's required action for it, quoted below, applies whether or not a fix is released.Each input and its source, and whom BOD 26-04 binds: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at low, Attend at medium and Act at high mission impact.
No fix has been recorded since the CVE record was published in 2021. Check the vendor's advisory for a fixed release; until one is applied, restrict network exposure of the affected system or apply the vendor's mitigation on your normal schedule at low, sooner than that at medium and as soon as possible at high mission impact.
Exploitation active (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table
BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)3 days & forensic triage if the affected system is publicly exposed; 14 days if it is not.
No released fix is confirmed on this page, but CISA's timeline does not wait for a fix's release: this CVE is in CISA's KEV catalog, and CISA's required action for it, quoted below, applies whether or not a fix is released.
The score's inputs: In CISA KEV yes (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it
CISA required action“Apply updates per vendor instructions.”
Quoted verbatim from CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. CISA directs it at US federal civilian executive branch agencies under Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 26-04, which replaced BOD 22-01 on 10 June 2026; it is not EchelonGraph's advice. CISA's notes: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-21551
Published
May 4, 2021
Last Modified
October 28, 2025
Advisory Details (4)
Auto-updated Nov 2, 2026Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog | CISA
Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog | CISA. Listed in CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-21551DSA-2021-088: Dell Client Platform Security Update for an Insufficient Access Control Vulnerability in the Dell dbutil Driver | Dell US
https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000186019/dsa-2021-088-dell-client-platform-security-update-for-dell-driver-insufficient-access-control-vulnerabilityWeakness Classification(2)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 16× in last 7d / 111× in last 30d)
Each row is a time one of our pipelines fetched, updated or re-scored this CVE. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. An arrow marks a change the record states ("CVSS v3 → 9.1"); EPSS and GHSA rows show the values recorded at that time, not what changed (EPSS values are rounded; hover one for the exact figures). Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 100 of 1,042 refreshes on record for this CVE.
A repeat, a row identical to one the same pipeline wrote less than 10 seconds earlier, is not a separate refresh and is not counted. None are among the latest 100 rows. The 942 oldest rows on record are not shown and were not checked, so the counts can still include repeats.
- 2026-11-02 10:30 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-11-02 10:30 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-11-01 11:28 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-11-01 11:28 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-31 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 80% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-31 12:26 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-31 12:26 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-30 13:25 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-30 13:25 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-29 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 80% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-29 14:24 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-29 14:24 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-28 15:22 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-28 15:22 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-27 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 80% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-27 16:20 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-26 17:20 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-26 17:19 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-25 18:15 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-25 18:15 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-25 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 80% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-24 19:13 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-24 19:13 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-24 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 80% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-23 20:12 UTCEG score recompute
Show 75 moreShow fewer
- 2026-10-23 20:12 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-22 21:09 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-22 21:09 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-22 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 80% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-21 22:08 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-21 22:08 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-21 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 80% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-20 23:04 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-20 23:03 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-20 00:01 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-20 00:01 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-19 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 80% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-19 00:58 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-19 00:58 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-18 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 80% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-18 09:11 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-18 01:54 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-18 01:54 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-17 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 79% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-17 02:53 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-17 02:53 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-16 03:50 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-16 03:50 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-15 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 79% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-15 04:49 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-15 04:48 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-14 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 79% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-14 05:46 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-14 05:46 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-13 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 79% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-13 06:42 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-12 19:25 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-12 07:39 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-12 03:20 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-11 23:02 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 23:01 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-11 18:45 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 18:45 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-11 14:26 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 14:26 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-11 10:09 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-11 05:52 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-11 01:36 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-10 21:20 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-10 17:02 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-10 12:45 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-10 08:27 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-10 04:12 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-09 23:56 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-09 23:56 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-09 20:04 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 79% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-09 19:39 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-09 15:24 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-09 11:07 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-09 06:49 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-09 02:33 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-08 22:17 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-08 18:01 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-08 13:44 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-08 09:26 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-08 05:11 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-08 00:55 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-07 20:38 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-07 16:22 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-07 12:02 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-07 07:46 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-07 03:29 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-06 23:11 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-06 18:55 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-06 18:55 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-06 15:13 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 79% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-06 14:39 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-06 10:23 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-06 06:07 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-06 05:53 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pp2j-9hqv-7x55 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
Publicly available exploits
(10 references)Public exploit code is referenced for this CVE (1 Metasploit module, 1 Exploit-DB entry, 8 GitHub PoCs). No fix has been recorded since the CVE record was published in 2021. If the vendor still supports the product, apply the fixed version it names; if it no longer does, isolate the affected system.
- Metasploitexploit/windows/local/cve_2021_21551_dbutil_memmove✓ verifiedPublished May 14, 2021
Dell DBUtil_2_3.sys IOCTL memmove
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCEap2468/CVE-2021-21551Published Aug 2, 2024
Proof of concept exploit for CVE-2021-21551
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCnanabingies/CVE-2021-21551Published Jan 7, 2023
Dell Driver EoP (CVE-2021-21551)
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCtijme/kernel-miiPublished Jun 25, 2022
Cobalt Strike (CS) Beacon Object File (BOF) foundation for kernel exploitation using CVE-2021-21551.
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCihack4falafel/Dell-Driver-EoP-CVE-2021-21551Published Sep 3, 2021
Dell Driver EoP (CVE-2021-21551)
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCmzakocs/CVE-2021-21551-POCPublished Jun 2, 2021
An extended proof-of-concept for the CVE-2021-21551 Dell ‘dbutil_2_3.sys’ Kernel Exploit
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCmathisvickie/CVE-2021-21551Published May 30, 2021
arbitrary kernel read/write in dbutil_2_3.sys, Proof of Concept Local Privilege Escalation to nt authority/system
Open source ↗ - Exploit-DBEDB-49893Published May 21, 2021
DELL dbutil_2_3.sys 2.3 - Arbitrary Write to Local Privilege Escalation (LPE)
Open source ↗ - Open source ↗GitHub PoCch3rn0byl/CVE-2021-21551Published May 21, 2021
- GitHub PoCwaldo-irc/CVE-2021-21551Published May 13, 2021
Exploit to SYSTEM for CVE-2021-21551
Open source ↗
Related CVEs(same CWE)
Frequently asked(6)
What is CVE-2021-21551?
When was CVE-2021-21551 made public?
Is CVE-2021-21551 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-21551?
Which products are affected by CVE-2021-21551?
How do I remediate CVE-2021-21551?
Dependency Blast Radius
Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2021-21551
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