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Nagios XiApplication · Nagios

CVE-2020-36864

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-10-30
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.7.2 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable

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
Nagios XI versions prior to 5.7.2 are vulnerable to cross-site scripting (XSS) via the background color settings in Dashboards. Insufficient validation or escaping of user-supplied input may allow an attacker to inject and execute arbitrary script in the context of a victim's browser.

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 · high confidence

Nagios XI versions prior to 5.7.2 contain a stored XSS vulnerability in the Dashboard background color settings. The application fails to properly validate or escape user-supplied input when saving background color values, allowing an attacker to inject malicious JavaScript that executes when other users view the affected dashboard.

MitigationUpgrade Nagios XI to version 5.7.2 or later. As an immediate workaround, restrict dashboard edit permissions to trusted administrators only and sanitize any existing dashboard configurations.

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
Nagios XiApplication
Affected:< 5.7.2

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

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

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 Nagios XI installation and version
    Check the Nagios XI version by viewing the footer of any Nagios XI page, or run: cat /usr/local/nagiosxi/etc/xi-sys.cfg 2>/dev/null || cat /var/www/html/nagiosxi/include/version.inc 2>/dev/null
    Affected if The installed version is lower than 5.7.2 (e.g., 5.7.1, 5.7.0, 5.6.x, etc.)
  2. Verify Dashboard component is accessible
    Log into the Nagios XI web interface and navigate to the Dashboard (Home > Dashboard). Confirm the dashboard configuration interface is available.
    Affected if Users have access to the Dashboard feature and can modify its settings
  3. Inspect Dashboard background color configuration
    In the Nagios XI web interface, go to Dashboard > Dashbaord Builder or Dashboard Settings, look for any Background Color or Appearance setting. Check the stored value for unexpected characters such as quotes, script tags, or JavaScript event handlers (e.g., <script>, onerror=, onload=, javascript:).
    Affected if The background color value contains HTML tags, JavaScript code, or event handler attributes such as onerror, onload, or javascript: protocol
  4. Review all dashboard configurations for XSS payloads
    Query the Nagios XI database for suspicious values in dashboard-related tables. Common locations include the xi_widgets or nagiosql tables. Look for color fields containing: <, >, script, onerror, onload, javascript:, or encoded variants.
    Affected if Any dashboard configuration record contains XSS payloads in color-related fields

A user is affected if Nagios XI version is below 5.7.2 AND they have dashboard access, and especially if malicious JavaScript is found in the background color configuration.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.7.2 or later
Fixed in 5.7.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Nagios XI to version 5.7.2 or later. As an immediate workaround, restrict dashboard edit permissions to trusted administrators only and sanitize any existing dashboard configurations.

Recommended fix High confidence

5.7.2

  1. 1. Back up the existing Nagios XI installation and database before upgrading
  2. 2. Obtain Nagios XI version 5.7.2 or later from the official Nagios download portal
  3. 3. Apply the upgrade following Nagios official upgrade documentation for your current version
  4. 4. After upgrade, verify the Dashboard background color settings are functioning correctly and the XSS vulnerability is remediated

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Nagios Xi Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.

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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-2020-36864 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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