CVE-2021-20023: in the CISA KEV catalogue
SonicWall Email Security Path Traversal Vulnerability. CISA added CVE-2021-20023 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on 2021-11-03 with a default due date of 2021-11-17. Known ransomware campaign use: Known. Forensic triage flag: No.
SonicWall Email Security contains a path traversal vulnerability that allows a post-authenticated attacker to read files on the remote host. This vulnerability has known usage in a SonicWall Email Security exploit chain along with CVE-2021-20021 and CVE-2021-20022 to achieve privilege escalation. (CISA description)
- Vendor / product
- SonicWall SonicWall Email Security
- CWE
- CWE-22
- CISA required action
- Apply updates per vendor instructions.
- EPSS
- 52%, percentile 98 (scored 2026-11-03)
EPSS puts about 52 in 100 odds (52%) on exploitation activity being observed in the next 30 days. Its score is higher than or equal to that of 98% of scored CVEs. This is a model estimate about exploitation anywhere, not about your environment.
Vendor and reference links (from CISA)
Your own deadline under CISA BOD 26-04 depends on exposure, automatability and technical impact: work it out with the BOD 26-04 calculator.
Frequently asked questions
Is CVE-2021-20023 in the CISA KEV catalogue?
Yes. CISA added CVE-2021-20023 (SonicWall Email Security Path Traversal Vulnerability) to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on 2021-11-03. CISA's default due date for it is 2021-11-17.
Is CVE-2021-20023 used in ransomware attacks?
CISA marks known ransomware campaign use as Known for CVE-2021-20023.
What should I do about CVE-2021-20023?
CISA's required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Sources
- CISA, Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog (accessed 2026-11-03)
- FIRST, Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS) (EPSS by FIRST; scores generated by Empirical Security)
- NVD record for CVE-2021-20023