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ExploitedIn CISA KEVFix available

CVE-2021-40539

Exploitation confirmed. First attested on 2021-11-03 by CISA-ADP, CISA KEV, GCVE · kevintel, GCVE · shadowserver.

  • Published2021-09-07
  • Fixed in6.1
  • WeaknessCWE-706

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

Zoho ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus version 6113 and prior is vulnerable to REST API authentication bypass with resultant remote code execution.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2021-09-0717:15CVE publishedNVD
  2. 2021-11-03Added to the CISA KEV catalogCISA KEV
  3. 2021-11-03Listed as exploited by GCVEGCVE
  4. 2021-11-03Exploitation first reportedCISA KEV
  5. 2025-02-0314:10SSVC exploitation set to activeCISA-ADP

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-11-03 21:37 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2021-40539?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2021-40539?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD
Zohocorp manageengine adselfservice plus
BranchAffectedFixed in
6.1< 6.16.1
6.1= 6.1no fix published

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Fix

  1. Update Zohocorp manageengine adselfservice plus to 6.1
  2. CISA’s required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.due 2021-11-17

Advisories and patches

Detection

read 2026-11-02 22:42 UTC
Nuclei template
available
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
5 repositories, unverifiedDarkSprings/CVE-2021-40539synacktiv/CVE-2021-40539lpyzds/CVE-2021-40539lpyydxs/CVE-2021-40539Bu0uCat/ADSelfService-Plus-RCE-CVE-2021-40539
PoC-in-GitHub
Metasploit modules
1 moduleexploit/windows/http/manageengine_adselfservice_plus_cve_2021_40539rank: excellentModule metadata: Metasploit Framework, © Rapid7, Inc., BSD-3-Clause.
Metasploit Framework

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerability

Date Added
2021-11-03
Patch Due Date
2021-11-17
Ransomware Use
Known
Required Action
Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Sources

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published
2021-09-07
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Analyzed
GitHub Advisory
GHSA-gww8-rh9f-5mjq

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-40539?

Zoho ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus version 6113 and prior is vulnerable to REST API authentication bypass with resultant remote code execution.

Is CVE-2021-40539 actively exploited?

Yes. CVE-2021-40539 is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, meaning it has been confirmed as actively exploited in the wild. CISA requires federal agencies to patch by 2021-11-17.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2021-40539?

CVE-2021-40539 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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Sources for this record