Threats / Micro Focus / CVE-2021-22502
CVE-2021-22502
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Micro Focus Operation Bridge Reporter (OBR) vulnerability
Micro Focus Operation Bridge Reporter (OBR) contains an input validation and command injection vulnerability enabling remote code execution. The flaw is actively exploited in the wild.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
An unauthenticated or low-privileged attacker can inject malicious commands through unvalidated input to OBR, achieving arbitrary code execution on the affected system. Active exploitation indicates immediate risk to deployed instances.
CISA KEV Yes · 2021-11-034EPSS 0.9674 (verify live)5CVSS 9.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Impact: total3Exploit Weaponized · public exploit · Metasploit module · nuclei template11
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
718 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.9674 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 9.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Micro Focus, Operation Bridge Reporter (OBR). Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CISA-assigned via the ADP container (CVE.org), version 3.1; the CNA left no metrics, so CISA's own score is used ahead of NVD.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-20 Improper Input Validation, CWE-78 OS Command Injection — weakness family: Injection.CWE assignment from the public NVD record (may be stale); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 268 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
Public exploit available
Public exploit tooling is catalogued for this CVE (a functional/weaponized public exploit). Catalog entries: Metasploit module, nuclei template. We link the catalog page(s) only — no payload or code is hosted or restated here.Link, never host — the catalog page is the source; basicsecurity.net does not redistribute payloads.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I identify an input vector in OBR that lacks proper validation or sanitization.
Business
Operational visibility into infrastructure is compromised; monitoring systems become attack staging points.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I craft a payload that breaks out of intended command context and executes arbitrary system commands.
Business
Attacker gains code execution privileges equivalent to the OBR service account, potentially system-level access.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I establish persistence, exfiltrate data, or pivot to connected infrastructure and applications.
Business
Enterprise monitoring infrastructure is fully compromised; data confidentiality, integrity, and availability are at risk across monitored systems.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05
Coverage & confidence
— what we know, and what we don’tEstablished (cited)
Coverage gaps — stated, not hidden
Disclosure & credit2
Catalogued by microfocusCNA
Credited with finding itNo finder named in the public CVE record — the work behind this find is unattributed.