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Threats / Micro Focus / CVE-2021-22506
CVE-2021-22506 · EUVD no mirror located · GCVE no mirror located Verified 2026-08-04

Micro Focus Access Manager vulnerability

Micro Focus Access Manager contains an information leakage vulnerability in SAML service provider redirection via the Assertion Consumer Service URL.

Verdict

Today item — known-exploited.

A SAML redirection flaw in Micro Focus Access Manager allows attackers to extract sensitive information through manipulation of the Assertion Consumer Service URL. Active exploitation has been observed in the wild.

CISA KEV Yes · 2021-11-034EPSS 0.25695 (verify live)5CVSS 7.5 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Impact: partial3
01

Is it exploitable?

— the evidence, ranked above the score
Reported exploitation
2 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).
CISA KEV ↗Confirmed
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.25695 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 7.5 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N) · Affected: Micro Focus, Micro Focus Access Manager. 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.
CISA-ADP ↗Reported
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Technical Impact: partialCISA'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.
CISA-ADP ↗Reported
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 222 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.
02

Who’s exploiting it?

— attribution turns risk into urgency
Attribution 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 board
1

Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1

Attacker
I craft a malicious SAML authentication request targeting the Assertion Consumer Service endpoint to redirect sensitive assertion data to an attacker-controlled domain.
Business
Confidential user credentials and session tokens are exposed to unauthorized parties, compromising authentication integrity.
2

Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2

Attacker
I intercept or redirect SAML assertions containing user identity and authorization claims to exfiltrate authentication metadata.
Business
Attackers gain unauthorized access to user accounts and sensitive resources protected by the Access Manager.
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’t

Established (cited)

  • KEV listing (CISA)
  • EPSS probability (FIRST)
  • 2 reported-exploitation source(s)
  • CVSS 7.5 — CISA-assigned (CVE.org ADP)
  • CISA SSVC triage disposition (CVE.org ADP)
  • Catalogued by microfocus (CNA)
  • Coverage gaps — stated, not hidden

  • No EUVD / GCVE mirror in feed — single-authority dependency for the identifier.
  • EPSS & exposure are time-varying; verify live at the source.
  • Threat-actor attribution not established from feed data — absence of a name is not absence of compromise.
  • No finder/reporter credit recorded in the public CVE entry — the work behind this find is unattributed.
  • Disclosure & credit2
    Catalogued by microfocusCNA
    Credited with finding itNo finder named in the public CVE record — the work behind this find is unattributed.