Threats / Zoho / CVE-2021-44077
CVE-2021-44077
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Zoho ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus (SDP) / SupportCenter vulnerability
Zoho ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus and SupportCenter Plus versions before specified patches allow unauthenticated remote code execution due to missing authentication controls.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
An unauthenticated attacker can execute arbitrary code on affected ManageEngine instances without credentials. The high EPSS score and active exploitation indicate immediate risk to exposed deployments.
CISA KEV Yes · 2021-12-014EPSS 0.93514 (verify live)5Exploit Weaponized · public PoC6CVSS 9.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Impact: total3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Fully weaponized — public exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
11 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 2021-12-01).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.93514 — 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: Zoho, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus (SDP) / SupportCenter Plus. 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-306 Missing Authentication — weakness family: Authentication.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 2 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 a publicly exposed ManageEngine instance and send a crafted request that bypasses authentication checks.
Business
Attackers gain direct code execution access to critical IT service management infrastructure without any credential barrier.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I execute system commands to establish persistence, exfiltrate data, or pivot to connected systems.
Business
Entire IT ticketing systems, employee records, and internal communications become compromised, enabling lateral movement across the organization.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I deploy additional malware or maintain backdoor access for long-term reconnaissance.
Business
Incident response costs escalate as attackers maintain presence; customer trust erodes if service provider data is breached.
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