Businessobjects Business IntelligenceApplication · Sap

CVE-2021-21444

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-02-09
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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
SAP Business Objects BI Platform, versions - 410, 420, 430, allows multiple X-Frame-Options headers entries in the response headers, which may not be predictably treated by all user agents. This could, as a result, nullify the added X-Frame-Options header leading to Clickjacking attack.

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

SAP Business Objects BI Platform versions 410, 420, and 430 send multiple X-Frame-Options headers in HTTP responses. Due to inconsistent handling of duplicate headers across different user agents, the X-Frame-Options protection can be nullified, allowing clickjacking attacks where the application is embedded in an iframe by malicious sites.

MitigationConfigure the server to send a single X-Frame-Options header (DENY or SAMEORIGIN) and ensure no duplicate headers are transmitted, eliminating ambiguity in user agent processing.

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
Businessobjects Business IntelligenceApplication
Affected:= 410= 420= 430

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
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 if SAP Business Objects BI Platform is running
    Check for running SAP Business Objects processes or access the web interface URL (typically on ports 8080, 8000, or 80/443). Common paths: /BOE/BI, /sap/boc, /businessobjects/enterprise XI
    Affected if The application is not running - no further action needed; if running, proceed to next check
  2. Retrieve HTTP response headers from the Business Objects web interface
    Use a tool like curl or browser dev tools to send a request to the SAP Business Objects login or main page and capture response headers. Example: curl -I https://<server>:<port>/BOE/BI/
    Affected if Unable to retrieve response headers - check network connectivity and service availability
  3. Inspect for X-Frame-Options header presence
    Examine the HTTP response for any X-Frame-Options header values (should contain DENY, SAMEORIGIN, or ALLOW-FROM)
    Affected if No X-Frame-Options header present - protection is absent but this is a different issue; if present, continue to check for duplicates
  4. Check for duplicate X-Frame-Options headers
    Examine all X-Frame-Options headers in the response. If multiple X-Frame-Options lines appear in the headers, this indicates duplicate headers are being sent
    Affected if Multiple X-Frame-Options headers are present in the response - the environment is affected by this CVE

Your environment is affected if SAP Business Objects BI Platform versions 410, 420, or 430 is running and returning duplicate X-Frame-Options headers in HTTP responses, allowing clickjacking via iframe embedding.

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

Configure the server to send a single X-Frame-Options header (DENY or SAMEORIGIN) and ensure no duplicate headers are transmitted, eliminating ambiguity in user agent processing.

Fix this in Businessobjects Business Intelligence Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,090
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2021-21444 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