CVE-2021-43779 in Addressing Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 01/05/2022
GLPI is an open source IT Asset Management, issue tracking system and service desk system. The GLPI addressing plugin in versions < 2.9.1 suffers from authenticated Remote Code Execution vulnerability, allowing access to the server's underlying operating system using command injection abuse of functionality. There is no workaround for this issue and users are advised to upgrade or to disable the addressing plugin.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/08/2025
The CVE-2021-43779 vulnerability represents a critical authenticated remote code execution flaw within the GLPI (Gestionnaire Libre de Parc Informatique) platform, specifically affecting the addressing plugin in versions prior to 2.9.1. GLPI serves as a comprehensive open-source solution for IT asset management, issue tracking, and service desk operations, making it a critical component in enterprise IT infrastructure. This vulnerability exploits a command injection weakness that allows authenticated attackers to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system, effectively providing them with full system access and control. The flaw exists within the plugin's handling of user-supplied input, where insufficient validation and sanitization permits malicious payloads to be interpreted as system commands rather than data. This type of vulnerability falls under CWE-77 and CWE-94 categories, representing command injection and code injection weaknesses respectively, which are fundamental security flaws that can lead to complete system compromise. The vulnerability's impact is particularly severe because it requires only authenticated access to the system, meaning that an attacker with valid user credentials can escalate their privileges to full system administrator level.
The operational implications of this vulnerability extend far beyond simple data theft or service disruption. Once an attacker exploits this RCE vulnerability, they gain complete control over the GLPI server, enabling them to access sensitive IT asset information, manipulate service desk records, steal user credentials, and potentially use the compromised system as a launching point for lateral movement within the network. The attack vector involves an authenticated user submitting malicious input through the addressing plugin interface, which then gets processed and executed as system commands without proper sanitization. This weakness creates a significant risk for organizations that rely on GLPI for critical IT management functions, as the compromise of a single authenticated account can lead to complete system takeover. The vulnerability's persistence means that even if users attempt to mitigate the issue by changing passwords, the attacker retains the ability to execute commands as long as they maintain valid access to the system, making detection and remediation particularly challenging.
Organizations utilizing GLPI must prioritize immediate remediation through upgrading to version 2.9.1 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address the command injection vulnerability. The lack of a workaround for this specific flaw underscores the critical nature of the vulnerability, as administrators cannot simply disable the affected functionality without potentially breaking core system operations. Security teams should implement comprehensive monitoring for unusual command execution patterns and unauthorized access attempts, particularly focusing on the addressing plugin's usage logs. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of maintaining up-to-date software versions and implementing proper input validation controls. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques such as T1059.001 (Command and Scripting Interpreter: PowerShell) and T1068 (Exploitation for Privilege Escalation), demonstrating how an initial authenticated foothold can be leveraged to achieve complete system compromise. Organizations should also consider implementing network segmentation to limit the potential impact of such compromises and ensure that the GLPI system operates with minimal privileges to reduce the blast radius of any successful exploitation attempts.