CVE-2021-22681 — Rockwell Multiple Products Insufficient Protected Credentials Vulnerability

Overview

Multiple Rockwell products contain an insufficient protected credentials vulnerability. Studio 5000 Logix Designer software may allow a key to be discovered. This key is used to verify Logix controllers are communicating with Rockwell Automation design software. If successfully exploited, this vulnerability could allow an unauthorized application to connect with Logix controllers. To leverage t...

Vulnerability details

CVE ID

CVE-2021-22681

Vulnerability

Rockwell Multiple Products Insufficient Protected Credentials Vulnerability

Vendor

Rockwell

Affected products

Rockwell: Multiple Products

Severity

HIGH

Exploitation status

Actively exploited in the wild (CISA KEV)

EPSS score

25.5% probability of exploitation in 30 days · 98th percentile

Published

2026-03-05

Remediation guidance

CVE-2021-22681 is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog — U.S. federal civilian agencies are required to remediate it under Binding Operational Directive 22-01. Treat it as a priority for every environment.

Apply the vendor's official security update for Rockwell the affected product as soon as possible. Where a patch is unavailable, apply vendor mitigations or isolate/segment exposed systems.

FIRST EPSS estimates a 25.5% probability that CVE-2021-22681 will be exploited within the next 30 days (98th percentile of all CVEs) — useful for risk-based patch sequencing.

Hunt for indicators of compromise tied to this vulnerability and confirm logging/EDR coverage on affected assets.

Authoritative references

• NVD — National Vulnerability Database
• MITRE CVE Record
• CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog
• FIRST EPSS — Exploit Prediction Scoring