CriticalCVE-2021-38647

    Open Management Infrastructure (OMI) Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (CVE-2021-38647)

    Published Last modified In CISA KEV since Sources: SingCERT, CVE.org

    What is affected, what to do

    Open Management Infrastructure (OMI) Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

    The vulnerability is being actively exploited; treat it as a priority. CISA lists it as used in ransomware campaigns. Update open_management_infrastructure to version 1.6.8-1. Immediate actions, mitigation and detection rules are in the runbook below.

    Affected
    • Microsoft Azure Automation State Configuration, DSC Extension gte 2.0.0..*
    • Microsoft Azure Automation Update Management gte 1.0.0..*
    • Microsoft Azure Diagnostics (LAD) gte 3.0.0..*
    • Microsoft Azure Security Center gte 1.0.0..*
    • Microsoft Azure Sentinel gte 1.0.0..*
    • Microsoft Azure Stack Hub gte 1.0.0..*
    • Microsoft Container Monitoring Solution gte 1.0.0..*
    • Microsoft Log Analytics Agent gte 1.0.0..*
    • Microsoft Open Management Infrastructure gte 16.0..*
    • Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) gte 1.0.0..*

    Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

    Metrics

    9.8

    Priority

    XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

    Source: NVD, CVSS v3

    9.8

    CVSS v3

    Severity Critical on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: SingCERT, CVE.org

    99.93 %

    EPSS score

    High — model estimates ≥ 50% chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 99.97

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    Critical
    Priority (0–325)

    The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?

    Read in glossary
    253.95 Methodology
    Exploit maturity

    An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.

    Read in glossary
    actively exploitedSource: ANSSI / CERT-FR How we classify
    XIEM Effective CVSS

    XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.

    Read in glossary
    9.8 Methodology
    CVSS v3

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    9.8
    EPSS score

    The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.

    Read in glossary
    99.93 %
    High — model estimates ≥ 50% chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days.
    EPSS percentile

    The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.

    Read in glossary
    99.97
    Critical — this CVE ranks in the top fifth of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 80%).
    KEV status

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    Actively exploited
    Published
    In CISA KEV since

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    CISA assessment (SSVC)
    Exploitation: active · automatable · Technical impact: total
    Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 4 February 2025

    Response and mitigation

    Why act now?

    Prioritisation rationale

    This flaw is network-reachable without authentication: a single HTTP request that omits the Authorization header yields code execution as root. The exploit is trivial, publicly documented, and among the CVEs most likely to be exploited. Mass scanning, botnets and cryptominers hit vulnerable hosts within days of disclosure, and CISA flags known ransomware use. The highest-risk targets are Azure Linux VMs where management extensions silently installed OMI, and SCOM-managed Linux servers. Rate any host with a vulnerable OMI build and an externally reachable port as critical and fix it immediately. Internal-only hosts follow at high priority within your emergency patch window.

    1. Runbook step 1

      Immediate response (0-24 h)

      • Inventory every Linux host running OMI: Azure Linux VMs with Log Analytics Agent (OMS), Azure Diagnostics (LAD), Automation Update Management/State Configuration, Defender for Cloud, Sentinel connectors, Container Monitoring, plus on-prem servers with the SCOM Linux agent. Check the version with dpkg -l omi / rpm -q omi or /opt/omi/bin/omiserver --version.
      • Upgrade OMI to the vendor-fixed release (per the MSRC advisory, OMI 1.6.8-1 or later; verify against the vendor advisory). Azure VM extensions are not always auto-updated, so push the package manually from the Microsoft repository or GitHub release and restart omid.
      • Block external reachability of the OMI ports now: TCP 5985, 5986 and 1270 via NSG, firewall or security group for internet and untrusted sources. Port 1270 is open by default on SCOM deployments.
      • Treat exposed, unpatched hosts as potentially compromised: take snapshots or forensic copies, capture the process list and cron jobs, and hunt for miners, webshells or botnet binaries. Isolate and rebuild on any hit.
      • Rotate secrets on affected hosts: SSH keys, managed identity tokens, workspace keys and service principal secrets. Exploitation yields root, which exposes everything stored locally.

    2. Runbook step 2

      Mitigation layers

      • Network segmentation: allow 5985/5986/1270 only from dedicated management hosts such as SCOM management servers. In Azure, add a high-priority deny rule in NSGs or Azure Firewall and enforce it with Azure Policy.
      • IPS/WAF: match HTTP POST to /wsman with a SOAP body containing ExecuteShellCommand or ExecuteScript (class SCX_OperatingSystem) and no Authorization header. Enable the CVE-2021-38647 signatures in mainstream rulesets (ET Open/Pro).
      • Configuration hardening: if remote OMI management is not needed, set httpport=0 and httpsport=0 (or bind to localhost) in /etc/opt/omi/conf/omiserver.conf and restart omid. Local agent functions such as log collection keep working.
      • Asset and vulnerability management: scan continuously for installed OMI versions via Defender for Cloud or your vulnerability scanner. Update golden images and VM templates so new instances do not ship vulnerable.
      • Endpoint hardening: enable EDR or auditd on Linux VMs. Restrict server egress to required destinations to hinder payload download.

    3. Runbook step 3

      Detection rules

      • Process ancestry (EDR/auditd): omiagent or omiengine spawning /bin/sh, bash, curl, wget or python as uid=0. Sigma shape: ParentImage|endswith: '/omiagent' and Image|endswith: ['/sh','/bash','/curl','/wget'].
      • auditd: -a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S execve, filtered on OMI parent processes. Alert on root execve events originating from the OMI process tree.
      • Network telemetry (Zeek/Suricata): inbound HTTP(S) to 5985/5986/1270 from the internet. In Zeek http.log, look for uri == "/wsman" with method == "POST" from external IPs and no Authorization header.
      • Azure/Sentinel (KQL): AzureNetworkAnalytics_CL | where DestPort_d in (5985,5986,1270) and FlowDirection_s == "I" and FlowStatus_s == "A". Correlate with Defender for Cloud OMI exploitation alerts.
      • Post-exploitation: new cron entries, unknown binaries in /tmp or /dev/shm, sustained high CPU from miners, and changes to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on OMI hosts.

    Detection rules

    No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

    Classification under NIS2 and CRA

    Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

    NIS2

    NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

    Read in glossary
    Actively exploited: treat the vulnerability as a priority in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2. If it is exploited in your environment, check the reporting obligation under Art. 23 (early warning within 24 hours).
    CRA

    The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

    Read in glossary
    Since 11.09.2026, manufacturers of affected products with digital elements must report actively exploited vulnerabilities under Art. 14 CRA, with an early warning within 24 hours via ENISA's single reporting platform.
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

    Read in glossary
    Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

    Description

    Open Management Infrastructure (OMI) Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

    Source: CSA/SingCERT, CISA KEV Catalog, NVD (NIST), cvelistv5, CVE.org (MITRE)

    Affected products

    The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

    Affected products
    Affected versionsFixed in
    MicrosoftAzure Automation State Configuration, DSC Extension
    • ≥ 2.0.0
    • —
    MicrosoftAzure Automation Update Management
    • ≥ 1.0.0
    • —
    MicrosoftAzure Diagnostics (LAD)
    • ≥ 3.0.0
    • —
    MicrosoftAzure Security Center
    • ≥ 1.0.0
    • —
    MicrosoftAzure Sentinel
    • ≥ 1.0.0
    • —
    MicrosoftAzure Stack Hub
    • ≥ 1.0.0
    • —
    MicrosoftContainer Monitoring Solution
    • ≥ 1.0.0
    • —
    MicrosoftLog Analytics Agent
    • ≥ 1.0.0
    • —
    MicrosoftOpen Management Infrastructure
    • ≥ 16.0
    • —
    MicrosoftSystem Center Operations Manager (SCOM)
    • ≥ 1.0.0
    • —
    microsoftazure_automation_state_configuration
    • —
    • —
    microsoftazure_automation_update_management
    • —
    • —
    microsoftazure_diagnostics_\(lad\)
    • —
    • —
    microsoftazure_security_center
    • —
    • —
    microsoftazure_sentinel
    • —
    • —
    microsoftazure_stack_hub
    • —
    • —
    microsoftcontainer_monitoring_solution
    • —
    • —
    microsoftlog_analytics_agent
    • —
    • —
    microsoftopen_management_infrastructure
    • < 1.6.8-1
    • 1.6.8-1
    microsoftsystem_center_operations_manager
    • —
    • —

    Vendors and products

    Public exploit references

    Publicly reported proof-of-concepts, exploit modules and detection templates for this vulnerability. NEOSEC links to the original sources only and does not provide any exploit code.

    Public exploit references
    CISA KEV CatalogCISA Known Exploited Vulnerability (opens in a new tab)cisa.govactively exploited
    ANSSI / CERT-FRLicence Ouverte 2.0, as of CERTFR-2021-ALE-020 – [Maj] Multiples vulnérabilités dans Microsoft Azure Open Management Infrastructure (clôturée 2022-01-05) (opens in a new tab)cert.cyber.gouv.fractively exploited
    Packet StormMicrosoft OMI Management Interface Authentication Bypass (opens in a new tab)packetstormsecurity.comPoC (publicly reported)reported, not verified—

    References & sources

    • portal.msrc.microsoft.comen-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2021-38647x_refsource_MISC, x_transferred
    • packetstormsecurity.comfiles/164694/Microsoft-OMI-Management-Interface-Authentication-…x_refsource_MISC, x_transferred
    • Microsoft Security Update GuideOpen Management Infrastructure (OMI) Remote Code Execution VulnerabilityVendor advisory, Patch
    • cisa.govknown-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-38647government-resource
    • cert.cyber.gouv.frANSSI / CERT-FR: CERTFR-2021-ALE-020 – [Maj] Multiples vulnérabilités dans Microsoft Azure Open Management Infrastructure (clôturée 2022-01-05)cert-fr

    Changes to this CVE

    Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).

    1. NVD analysis modifiedNVD

      Show 2 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Product configurationchanged
      OR *cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:system_center_operations_manager:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:azure_automation_state_configuration:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:azure_automation_update_management:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:azure_diagnostics_(lad):-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:azure_open_management_infrastructure:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:azure_security_center:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:azure_sentinel:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:azure_stack_hub:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:container_monitoring_solution:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:log_analytics_agent:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
      OR *cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:system_center_operations_manager:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:azure_automation_state_configuration:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:azure_automation_update_management:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:azure_diagnostics_(lad):-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:azure_security_center:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:azure_sentinel:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:azure_stack_hub:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:container_monitoring_solution:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:log_analytics_agent:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:open_management_infrastructure:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions up to (excluding) 1.6.8-1
      Reference typeadded
      —
      Microsoft Corporation: https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2021-38647 Types: Patch, Vendor Advisory

      Source identifier: nvd@nist.gov

    2. Record modifiedMicrosoft

      Description added or changed

      Show 7 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Affected versions (publisher)changed
      Open Management Infrastructure, System Center Operations Manager (SCOM), Azure Automation State Configuration, DSC Extension (+7)
      Azure Automation State Configuration, DSC Extension, Azure Automation Update Management, Azure Diagnostics (LAD) (+7)
      Descriptionchanged
      Open Management Infrastructure Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
      Open Management Infrastructure (OMI) Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2021-38647
      Referenceremoved
      http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/164694/Microsoft-OMI-Management-Interface-Authentication-Bypass.html
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2021-38647
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/164694/Microsoft-OMI-Management-Interface-Authentication-Bypass.html Types: Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2021-38647 Types: Patch, Vendor Advisory
      —

      Source identifier: secure@microsoft.com

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