CVE-2021-23286
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 · uneditedEaton Intelligent Power Manager Infrastructure (IPM Infrastructure) version 1.5.0plus205 and all prior versions are vulnerable to CSV Formula Injection. This issue affects: Eaton Intelligent Power Manager Infrastructure (IPM Infrastructure) all version 1.5.0plus205 and prior versions.
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 confidenceEaton Intelligent Power Manager Infrastructure versions 1.5.0plus205 and prior contain a CSV Formula Injection vulnerability. User-supplied data included in CSV exports is not sanitized, allowing attackers to inject spreadsheet formula characters (such as =, +, -, @) that execute arbitrary commands when the CSV file is opened in spreadsheet applications like Excel.
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<= 1.5.0plus205CVSS 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
- Adjacent
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if Eaton Intelligent Power Manager is installedCheck for the installation directory (commonly in Program Files/Eaton or C:/Program Files (x86)/Eaton), or look for the IPM service running on the systemAffected if The software is present on the system
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Determine the installed versionLocate version information in the installation directory, typically in an About or version file, or check the installed programs list in Windows Control PanelAffected if The version number is 1.5.0plus205 or lower
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Verify the application is accessibleConfirm the IPM web service is running by checking if the management interface is reachable (default ports 4679, 4680, or 4681)Affected if The web interface is accessible without additional authentication barriers
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Locate the CSV export functionalityAccess the IPM web interface and navigate to reports, exports, or data output sections where CSV downloads are availableAffected if A CSV export feature exists and is accessible to users
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Test for formula injection susceptibilityCreate or input test data containing formula characters (=, +, -, @) into fields that can be exported via CSV, then download and inspect the resulting CSV file in a text editor to see if characters are prefixed with a single quoteAffected if The exported CSV contains raw formula characters without escaping (dangerous characters appear unescaped in the CSV file)
A user is affected if Eaton Intelligent Power Manager version 1.5.0plus205 or lower is installed and the CSV export feature is accessible with unescaped formula characters in the output.
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 proper escaping of formula injection characters in CSV export routines by prefixing dangerous characters (=, +, -, @, tab) with a single quote or filtering them entirely before writing to CSV output.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-23286 — 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-2021-23286 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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