CVE-2021-22949
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 · uneditedA CSRF in Concrete CMS version 8.5.5 and below allows an attacker to duplicate files which can lead to UI inconvenience, and exhaustion of disk space.Credit for discovery: "Solar Security CMS Research Team"
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 confidenceA Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Concrete CMS versions 8.5.5 and below allows attackers to trick authenticated users into unknowingly triggering file duplication operations via forged requests. This can flood the CMS with duplicate files, causing UI/clutter issues and potentially exhausting available disk space.
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<= 8.5.5CVSS 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
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check Concrete CMS versionLog into the CMS admin dashboard and navigate to Dashboard > System & Settings > Basics > Site Name, or check the version number in the footer of the admin pages. Alternatively, check the concrete/version.php file in the installation directory.Affected if The installed version is 8.5.5 or lower (any version up to and including 8.5.5).
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Verify file duplication feature existsNavigate to the File Manager in the CMS admin panel (Dashboard > Files > Files). Confirm that a duplicate or copy function is available for uploaded files.Affected if The file duplication feature is present and accessible to authenticated users.
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Inspect file duplication request for CSRF protectionUse browser developer tools to intercept the HTTP request when duplicating a file. Check if the request includes a CSRF token parameter (often named 'ccm_token', 'csrf_token', or similar) in either the request body or headers.Affected if The duplication request does not require or validate a CSRF token.
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Check for duplicate files in the systemIn the File Manager, sort files by name or date to identify files with duplicate naming patterns (such as filename_copy, filename_1, etc.). Look for suspicious numbers of similar file names.Affected if A large number of duplicate files exist that were not intentionally uploaded by administrators.
A user is affected if their Concrete CMS installation is version 8.5.5 or below AND the file duplication feature is accessible without CSRF token validation.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataImplement anti-CSRF token validation on all file manipulation operations including duplication, or upgrade to a patched version of Concrete CMS.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-22949 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-22949 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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
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