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WebhelpdeskApplication · Solarwinds

CVE-2019-20002

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-04-27
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Formula Injection exists in the export feature in SolarWinds WebHelpDesk 12.7.1 via a value (provided by a low-privileged user in the Subject field of a help request form) that is mishandled in a TicketActions/view?tab=group TSV export by an admin user.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

A formula injection (CSV injection) vulnerability in SolarWinds WebHelpDesk 12.7.1 allows low-privileged users to inject malicious spreadsheet formulas into the Subject field of help desk tickets. When an administrator exports tickets using the TicketActions/view?tab=group TSV export feature, the injected formulas are rendered and potentially executed in the admin's spreadsheet application, allowing code execution or data exfiltration.

MitigationImplement input validation and sanitization on all user-supplied fields before storage and export, stripping or neutralizing formula characters (=, +, -, @, tab, newline). Alternatively, prepend a single quote to fields beginning with these characters during export to force spreadsheet applications to treat them as text.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
WebhelpdeskApplication
Affected:= 12.7.1

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the WebHelpDesk version
    Check the installed SolarWinds WebHelpDesk version in the application or system information. This is typically visible in the About section, the login page footer, or the administration dashboard.
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 12.7.1
  2. Verify if ticket creation is available to low-privileged users
    Log in as a low-privileged user (non-admin) and attempt to create a new help desk ticket. Observe if you can set a custom Subject field.
    Affected if Low-privileged users can create tickets with arbitrary Subject field content
  3. Confirm the TSV export feature exists
    As an administrator, navigate to the TicketActions/view?tab=group endpoint or locate the TSV export functionality in the ticket management interface.
    Affected if The TSV export feature (TicketActions/view?tab=group) is present and accessible
  4. Inspect existing tickets for formula characters
    Query the ticket database or export tickets and examine the Subject fields for the presence of characters that trigger formula execution: equals (=), plus (+), minus (-), at symbol (@), tabs, or newlines at the start of values.
    Affected if Any tickets contain Subject fields beginning with =, +, -, @, or containing injected spreadsheet formula syntax
  5. Test the export output format
    Export a sample set of tickets using the TSV export feature and open the resulting file in a spreadsheet application. Observe whether formulas in the Subject field are interpreted rather than displayed as text.
    Affected if Exported TSV files render formulas from the Subject field as executable spreadsheet formulas rather than plain text

Users are affected if they run SolarWinds WebHelpDesk version 12.7.1 and have the TSV export feature enabled, combined with the ability for low-privileged users to submit tickets with formula characters in the Subject field.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement input validation and sanitization on all user-supplied fields before storage and export, stripping or neutralizing formula characters (=, +, -, @, tab, newline). Alternatively, prepend a single quote to fields beginning with these characters during export to force spreadsheet applications to treat them as text.

Fix this in Webhelpdesk Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,800
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-20002 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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