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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 18 Apr 2022. Known ransomware use
Sma 210 FirmwareOperating system · Sonicwall

CVE-2021-20028

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-08-04
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 9.0.0.10-28sv or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Ransomware Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
Improper neutralization of a SQL Command leading to SQL Injection vulnerability impacting end-of-life Secure Remote Access (SRA) products, specifically the SRA appliances running all 8.x firmware and 9.0.0.9-26sv or earlier

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

SQL injection vulnerability in end-of-life Secure Remote Access (SRA) appliances due to improper neutralization of SQL commands. The flaw affects SRA appliances running all 8.x firmware and version 9.0.0.9-26sv or earlier, allowing remote unauthenticated attackers to inject malicious SQL queries.

MitigationSince these are end-of-life products with no available patches, organizations should migrate to supported hardware, implement network segmentation and WAF compensating controls, or decommission the affected appliances entirely.

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
Sma 210 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:>= 8.0.0.0, < 9.0.0.10-28sv
Sma 410 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:>= 8.0.0.0, < 9.0.0.10-28sv
Sma 500v FirmwareOperating system
Affected:>= 8.0.0.0, < 9.0.0.10-28sv
Sra 4600 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:>= 8.0.0.0, < 9.0.0.10-28sv
Sra 1600 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:>= 8.0.0.0, < 9.0.0.10-28sv
Sra Va FirmwareOperating system
Affected:>= 8.0.0.0, < 9.0.0.10-28sv

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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 SonicWall appliance model
    Locate the physical device or check the management interface to confirm the exact model number (SMA 210, SMA 410, SMA 500v, SRA 4600, SRA 1600, or SRA VA)
    Affected if The model is any of the six affected products listed in the CVE
  2. Check the installed firmware version
    Log into the appliance admin interface and navigate to System > Status or use the CLI command 'show version' to display the firmware version
    Affected if The firmware version is 8.0.0.0 or higher, but lower than 9.0.0.10-28sv (or 9.0.0.9-26sv depending on exact build)
  3. Verify network exposure of the management interface
    Check firewall rules and NAT configurations to determine if the SMA/SRA web management portal (typically ports 443 or 8443) is accessible from untrusted networks or the internet
    Affected if The management interface is reachable from outside the trusted network without IP restrictions
  4. Review logs for SQL injection indicators
    Examine appliance logs and web server logs for unusual SQL syntax in URL parameters, database errors (ORA-, MySQL, PostgreSQL errors), or signs of injection attempts
    Affected if Log entries show SQL syntax patterns or database errors that may indicate exploitation attempts

You are affected if your appliance is any of the six SMA/SRA models running firmware version 8.0.0.0 through 9.0.0.9-26sv (or 9.0.0.10-27sv), especially if the management interface is exposed to untrusted networks.

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 9.0.0.10-28sv or later
Fixed in 9.0.0.10-28sv
Interim mitigation

Since these are end-of-life products with no available patches, organizations should migrate to supported hardware, implement network segmentation and WAF compensating controls, or decommission the affected appliances entirely.

Recommended fix High confidence
  1. This CVE affects End-of-Life (EOL) SonicWall Secure Remote Access (SRA) products.
  2. These products are no longer supported by the vendor and no longer receive security updates.
  3. If you still use these devices, consider migrating to a supported solution such as SonicWall SMA 100 series appliances or other supported remote access solutions.
  4. If migration is not possible, implement network-level controls such as restricting access to the management interface to trusted IPs only via firewall rules, and place the device behind a VPN concentrator with strong authentication.
  5. Monitor CISA and SonicWall advisories for any additional guidance on mitigating this vulnerability for legacy systems.
Caveat Products are end-of-life with no available firmware updates; replacement/migration required

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

Fix this in Sma 210 Firmware Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
27.0 hours of engineering $4,800
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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-2021-20028 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data