CVE-2021-42847

published 2021-11-11

CVE-2021-42847: Zoho ManageEngine ADAudit Plus before 7006 allows attackers to write to, and execute, arbitrary files.

Priority P1 81 critical 9.8 CVSS 3.1

AV N AC L PR N UI N S U C H I H A H

EXPLOIT

Zoho ManageEngine ADAudit Plus before 7006 allows attackers to write to, and execute, arbitrary files.

Affected

2 ranges

Vendor	Product	Version range	Fixed in
zohocorp	manageengine_adaudit_plus	< 7.0	7.0
zohocorp	manageengine_adaudit_plus	—	—

Detection & IOCs extracted from sources · hover to see the quote

path alert_scripts↗

• → Monitor for new PowerShell script creation inside the ADAudit Plus 'alert_scripts' directory, which is the write target exploited by CVE-2021-42847. ↗
• → Alert on creation of custom alert profiles in ADAudit Plus followed by failed login events to a configured domain — this is the trigger mechanism used to execute the dropped payload. ↗
• → Detect processes spawned by the ManageEngine ADAudit Plus service account (typically local administrator) that invoke PowerShell, as successful exploitation results in RCE under that context. ↗
• → For builds prior to 7004, watch for direct payload insertion into the custom alert script component field of an alert profile via authenticated HTTP requests. ↗

• · Exploitation requires valid authenticated credentials with privileges to create alert scripts — unauthenticated exploitation is not possible for the file-write vector (CVE-2021-42847). ↗
• · The arbitrary file write path (CVE-2021-42847) is only exercised on builds 7004 and 7005; builds prior to 7004 use a different direct-injection code path. ↗
• · The exploit has been validated only on Windows Server 2012 R2 running ADAudit Plus builds 7003 and 7005; behaviour on other OS versions may differ. ↗

CVSS provenance

nvd v3.1 9.8 CRITICAL CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd v2.0 7.5 HIGH AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

CVEs like this are exactly what “Exploited This Week” covers.

Every Monday: what got weaponized or added to CISA KEV in the last seven days — each CVE cross-linked to its PoC, Nuclei template, and detection rule. Free, one email a week, unsubscribe in one click.