CVE-2021-23758

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

“—” beside the score: it is equal to NVD's CVSS score.

Score elevated to 9.8 because this CVE is listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2026-08-26), indicating real-world exploitation has been confirmed by US federal agencies. NVD baseline CVSS 9.8 retained for reference. Confidence: HIGH.

Triggered by: CISA KEV (actively exploited)
Sources: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, EPSS, NVD CVSS v3
Exploited in the wild
9.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPatch nowTreat as an emergency — this is being exploited.
  • Actively exploited in the wild (CISA-KEV) — the reason this is sooner than the SSVC decision on this page at low or medium mission impact
CISA-KEV: ExploitedEPSS PROB: 83%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: Metasploit · other public PoCExposed services: Not assessed

A fix is available — apply it.

All versions of package ajaxpro.2 are vulnerable to Deserialization of Untrusted Data due to the possibility of deserialization of arbitrary .NET classes, which can be abused to gain remote code execution.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8CRITICALhigh confidence
EG Risk
84
EG Risk 84/100

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score. It fuses impact severity (EG Severity, the CVSS base score, never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score) with real-world exploitation and automatability, under weights EchelonGraph set by hand, so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner.

How it’s computed (value × EchelonGraph’s weight)
Severity98% × 45%
Impact severity (EG Severity): CVSS 9.8 of 10. Never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score.
Exploitation100% × 40%
Fixed at 100% for a CISA KEV listing: EchelonGraph's rule.
Automatability0% × 15%
CISA's SSVC Automatable value: no (Vulnrichment).
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Track at low, Attend at medium and Act at high mission impact.
Exploitation active (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE.
Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low, sooner than that at medium and as soon as possible at high mission impact.
EPSS PROB
83%
EPSS %ILE
99th
KEV
⚠ Exploited

What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)

The EG score (9.8): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 9.8 is its impact severity (EG Severity), not escalated.

EG Severity
9.8 CRITICALCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.NVD CVSS v3 · CVSS v3.0 or v3.1
EG Likelihood
83% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-10-23). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
Confirmed exploitation
CISA KEV and EG-KEV Tier 1 (exploited in the wild)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
EG Priority
SSVC Attend at medium mission impactTrack at low, Attend at medium and Act at high mission impact.CISA BOD 26-04: 3 days & forensic triage if the affected system is publicly exposed; 14 days if it is not.Each input and its source: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.

SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at low, Attend at medium and Act at high mission impact.

A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low, sooner than that at medium and as soon as possible at high mission impact.

Exploitation active (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table

BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)3 days & forensic triage if the affected system is publicly exposed; 14 days if it is not.

In CISA KEV yes (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it

CISA required action“Apply mitigations in accordance with vendor instructions, ensuring compliance with CISA’s BOD 26-04 Prioritizing Security Updates Based on Risk (see URL in Notes) guidance and CISA’s “Forensics Triage Requirements” (see URL in Notes). Follow applicable BOD 26-04 guidance for cloud services or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. Stakeholders are responsible for evaluating each asset's internet exposure and ensuring adherence to BOD 26-04 patching guidelines.”

Quoted verbatim from CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. CISA directs it at US federal civilian executive branch agencies under Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 26-04, which replaced BOD 22-01 on 10 June 2026; it is not EchelonGraph's advice. CISA's notes: https://github.com/michaelschwarz/Ajax.NET-Professional/commit/b0e63be5f0bb20dfce507cb8a1a9568f6e73de57 · https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/directives/bod-26-04-prioritizing-security-updates-based-risk · https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/directives/bod-26-04-implementation-guidance-prioritizing-security-updates-based-risk · https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-23758

Published

December 3, 2021

Last Modified

August 27, 2026

Advisory Details (5)

Auto-updated Oct 22, 2026
⚠️ Actively exploited (CISA KEV, CISA Vulnrichment). Patch available. Sources: github_commit, cisa.
CISA🔴 Active Exploitation

Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog | CISA

Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog | CISA. Listed in CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-23758
Web page🟡 PoC Available

UAT-10147: Chinese-speaking adversary integrates agentic AI into post-compromise operations

https://blog.talosintelligence.com/uat-10147-chinese-speaking-adversary-integrates-agentic-ai-into-post-compromise-operations/
Web page

Deserialization of Untrusted Data in ajaxpro.2 | CVE-2021-23758 | Snyk

https://snyk.io/vuln/SNYK-DOTNET-AJAXPRO2-1925971
GitHub commit Patch Available

commit b0e63be5f0bb (michaelschwarz/Ajax.NET-Professional)

Patch available: michaelschwarz/Ajax.NET-Professional v21.10.30.1 (contains commit b0e63be5f0bb)

https://github.com/michaelschwarz/Ajax.NET-Professional/commit/b0e63be5f0bb20dfce507cb8a1a9568f6e73de57

Affected Packages

(1 across 1 ecosystem)
NuGet(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
AjaxNetProfessional21.10.30, 21.11.22, 21.11.29
  • every version up to 21.11.29.1: fixed in 21.11.29.1
—

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 8× in last 7d / 39× in last 30d)

Each row is a time one of our pipelines fetched, updated or re-scored this CVE. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. An arrow marks a change the record states ("CVSS v3 → 9.1"); EPSS and GHSA rows show the values recorded at that time, not what changed (EPSS values are rounded; hover one for the exact figures). Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 96 of 149 refreshes on record for this CVE.

A repeat, a row identical to one the same pipeline wrote less than 10 seconds earlier, is not a separate refresh and is not counted. 4 repeat rows among the latest 100 are merged into the row they repeat. The 53 oldest rows on record are not shown and were not checked, so the counts can still include repeats.

  1. 2026-10-23 18:57 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-10-22 18:02 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-10-21 17:08 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-10-21 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 83% · 99th percentile
  5. 2026-10-20 16:13 UTCEG score recompute
  6. 2026-10-19 15:17 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-10-18 09:09 UTCEG score recompute
  8. 2026-10-17 13:28 UTCEG score recompute
  9. 2026-10-16 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 83% · 99th percentile
  10. 2026-10-16 12:34 UTCEG score recompute
  11. 2026-10-15 11:39 UTCEG score recompute
  12. 2026-10-14 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 83% · 99th percentile
  13. 2026-10-14 10:44 UTCEG score recompute
  14. 2026-10-12 19:23 UTCEG score recompute
  15. 2026-10-11 20:41 UTCEG score recompute
  16. 2026-10-11 16:34 UTCEG score recompute
  17. 2026-10-11 12:31 UTCEG score recompute
  18. 2026-10-10 20:16 UTCEG score recompute
  19. 2026-10-10 19:56 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 83% · 99th percentile
  20. 2026-10-08 03:18 UTCEG score recompute
  21. 2026-10-07 23:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 83% · 99th percentile
  22. 2026-10-05 18:32 UTCEG score recompute
  23. 2026-10-05 17:40 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 83% · 99th percentile
  24. 2026-10-02 17:26 UTCEG score recompute
  25. 2026-10-02 16:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 83% · 99th percentile
Show 71 more
  1. 2026-09-29 16:27 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-09-29 00:09 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-09-28 16:00 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-09-28 13:47 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 83% · 99th percentile
  5. 2026-09-27 21:51 UTCCISA KEV update
  6. 2026-09-26 19:16 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-09-26 15:54 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 83% · 99th percentile
  8. 2026-09-26 02:59 UTCEG score recompute
  9. 2026-09-26 00:21 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 83% · 99th percentile
  10. 2026-09-25 19:35 UTCCISA KEV update
  11. 2026-09-25 14:55 UTCCISA KEV update
  12. 2026-09-24 19:31 UTCCISA KEV update
  13. 2026-09-24 14:25 UTCEG score recompute
  14. 2026-09-24 14:00 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 83% · 99th percentile
  15. 2026-09-22 19:36 UTCCISA KEV update
  16. 2026-09-22 17:50 UTCEG score recompute
  17. 2026-09-22 14:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 84% · 99th percentile
  18. 2026-09-21 21:36 UTCEG score recompute
  19. 2026-09-21 20:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 84% · 99th percentile
  20. 2026-09-21 19:09 UTCCISA KEV update
  21. 2026-09-19 16:48 UTCEG score recompute
  22. 2026-09-19 15:37 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 84% · 99th percentile
  23. 2026-09-18 20:32 UTCEG score recompute
  24. 2026-09-18 19:23 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 84% · 99th percentile
  25. 2026-09-18 19:20 UTCCISA KEV update
  26. 2026-09-18 14:15 UTCCISA KEV update
  27. 2026-09-16 15:52 UTCEG score recompute
  28. 2026-09-16 14:10 UTCCISA KEV update
  29. 2026-09-16 14:04 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 84% · 99th percentile
  30. 2026-09-16 07:46 UTCEG score recompute
  31. 2026-09-14 19:24 UTCCISA KEV update
  32. 2026-09-12 18:39 UTCEG score recompute
  33. 2026-09-12 14:57 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 84% · 99th percentile
  34. 2026-09-11 18:49 UTCCISA KEV update
  35. 2026-09-10 19:28 UTCCISA KEV update
  36. 2026-09-10 09:52 UTCEG score recompute
  37. 2026-09-10 09:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 84% · 99th percentile
  38. 2026-09-09 19:08 UTCCISA KEV update
  39. 2026-09-09 01:27 UTCEG score recompute
  40. 2026-09-08 21:56 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 84% · 99th percentile
  41. 2026-09-08 18:54 UTCCISA KEV update
  42. 2026-09-06 16:30 UTCEG score recompute
  43. 2026-09-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 84% · 99th percentile
  44. 2026-09-05 16:10 UTCEG score recompute
  45. 2026-09-05 15:25 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 84% · 99th percentile
  46. 2026-09-04 17:38 UTCCISA KEV update
  47. 2026-09-04 07:42 UTCEG score recompute
  48. 2026-09-04 05:03 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 84% · 99th percentile
  49. 2026-09-02 17:33 UTCCISA KEV update
  50. 2026-09-01 14:28 UTCEG score recompute
  51. 2026-09-01 13:50 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 84% · 99th percentile
  52. 2026-08-31 14:19 UTCCISA KEV update
  53. 2026-08-30 21:48 UTCEG score recompute
  54. 2026-08-30 19:14 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 84% · 99th percentile
  55. 2026-08-29 01:07 UTCEG score recompute
  56. 2026-08-28 21:37 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 84% · 99th percentile
  57. 2026-08-27 17:22 UTCCISA KEV update
  58. 2026-08-27 16:36 UTCEG score recompute
  59. 2026-08-27 14:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 84% · 99th percentile
  60. 2026-08-26 18:22 UTCEG score recompute▲ 0.80
  61. 2026-08-26 18:20 UTCNVD updateCVSS v3 → 9.8 · severity → CRITICAL
  62. 2026-08-26 18:03 UTCEG score recompute
  63. 2026-08-26 17:41 UTCEG score recompute
  64. 2026-08-26 17:41 UTCCISA KEV update
  65. 2026-08-26 14:42 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 89% · 99th percentile
  66. 2026-08-21 23:46 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 89% · 99th percentile
  67. 2026-08-19 14:02 UTCOSV refresh
  68. 2026-08-16 02:11 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 89% · 99th percentile
  69. 2026-08-12 13:47 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 89% · 99th percentile
  70. 2026-08-09 13:43 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 89% · 99th percentile
  71. 2026-08-08 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 89% · 99th percentile

Publicly available exploits

(2 references)

Public exploit code is referenced for this CVE (1 Metasploit module, 1 GitHub PoC). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly.

  • Metasploitexploit/windows/http/ajaxpro_deserialization_rce✓ verified
    Published Nov 2, 2023

    AjaxPro Deserialization Remote Code Execution

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCnumanturle/CVE-2021-23758-POC
    Published Dec 15, 2021
    Open source ↗

Frequently asked(6)

What is CVE-2021-23758?
CVE-2021-23758 is a critical-severity vulnerability; its CVE record was published on December 3, 2021. All versions of package ajaxpro.2 are vulnerable to Deserialization of Untrusted Data due to the possibility of deserialization of arbitrary .NET classes, which can be abused to gain remote code execution.
When was CVE-2021-23758 made public?
CVE-2021-23758 was made public on December 3, 2021: that is the date its CVE record's CNA, Snyk, gives for when the vulnerability was made public. The CVE record itself was published on December 3, 2021. EchelonGraph's copy of the record carries a last-modified date of August 27, 2026; the record at its source may have been updated since.
Is CVE-2021-23758 actively exploited?
Yes. CISA added CVE-2021-23758 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on August 26, 2026, affecting Ajax.NET Professional Ajax.NET Professional. KEV listing indicates confirmed exploitation in the wild; this CVE warrants immediate attention. A fix is available. Apply it.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-23758?
CVE-2021-23758 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
Which products are affected by CVE-2021-23758?
CVE-2021-23758 affects Ajax.NET Professional Ajax.NET Professional. The affected packages EchelonGraph has on record, with version ranges, are listed in the Affected Packages section of this page.
How do I remediate CVE-2021-23758?
A fix for CVE-2021-23758 is available: update to the fixed version the vendor names in its advisory.

Dependency Blast Radius

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