Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild High confidence Not in CISA KEV

CVE-2021-29442

Authentication bypass

Alibaba / nacos · affected before 1.4.1

Watch CVE-2021-29442 Browse KEV feed
Severity
CVSS 8.6 · High
Confidence
High
Exploit status
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
65.7%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2021-29442 is an unauthenticated Authentication bypass affecting Alibaba nacos. Nacos is a platform designed for dynamic service discovery and configuration and service management. In Nacos before version 1.4.1,...

Is it exploited?

Yes. Previdian tracks this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is high. Also confirmed by third-party sources.

Who is affected?

Alibaba / nacos affected before 1.4.1.

What should we do?

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.

Overview

Nacos is a platform designed for dynamic service discovery and configuration and service management

Nacos is a platform designed for dynamic service discovery and configuration and service management. In Nacos before version 1.4.1, the ConfigOpsController lets the user perform management operations like querying the database or even wiping it out. While the /data/remove endpoint is properly protected with the @Secured annotation, the /derby endpoint is not protected and can be openly accessed by unauthenticated users.

These endpoints are only valid when using embedded storage (derby DB) so this issue should not affect those installations using external storage (e.g. mysql)

alibaba Affected
nacos
Before 1.4.1
Published
27 Apr 2021
Exploitation Reported
18 Jun 2025
Attack vector
Remote
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None

Tags

nuclei_scanner

CVE References

Exploitation evidence

Why Previdian marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

The Shadowserver

Recorded 18 Jun 2025

A trusted third party reported exploitation.

Proof of concept available

Nuclei Templates

Recorded 12 Jun 2026

Public scanner or PoC coverage increases practical exploitability.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the Previdian Pro API.

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Source Added
The Shadowserver First 2025-06-18 00:00 UTC

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
User-Agents
Callback hosts
0
0
0

Request targets and User-Agents available in Pro. Callback host details available in Enterprise.

Virtual patch status

No Previdian virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

Learn about virtual patches →

Scanner Artifacts

Scanner and exploit-framework references linked to this CVE.

Scanner Reference Detected
Nuclei https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2021/CVE-2021-29442.yaml 25 Apr 2025

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

8.6 High

Potential damage if exploited. Separate from whether attackers are using it.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

EPSS

65.7%

Estimated chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Previdian's warning comes from evidence, not this score.

Weaknesses

Missing Authentication for Critical Function CWE-306

Recent mention · RecordedFuture

August 2026 CVE Landscape

In August 2026, Insikt Group® identified 73 high-impact vulnerabilities that should be prioritized for remediation, 43 of which had a Very Critical Recorded Future Risk Score. This represents a 14% decrease from last month.

Read full advisory

Potential Proof of Concepts

These PoCs are unverified and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.

Nacos <1.4.1 - Authentication Bypass

nuclei · Created Unknown

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. 14:20 UTC

    Public PoC available

    Public proof-of-concept code published

  2. 00:00 UTC

    Added to Previdian KEV Feed

    High-confidence, third-party attested exploitation

  3. 00:00 UTC

    Nuclei template available

    Scanner coverage available

  4. 20:20 UTC

    CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  5. 00:00 UTC

    CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

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  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2021-29442

Sample API response 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2021-29442",
  "confidence": "High",
  "cvss_score": 8.6,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.65717,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}