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Puppet EnterpriseApplication · Puppet

CVE-2021-27020

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-08-30
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2019.8.6 or later.
See remediation →
95/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Puppet Enterprise presented a security risk by not sanitizing user input when doing a CSV export.

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 confidence

Puppet Enterprise has a CSV injection vulnerability where user input is not sanitized before being exported to CSV format. An attacker could inject malicious spreadsheet formulas (using characters like =, @, +, -) that execute when the CSV file is opened in spreadsheet software, potentially leading to remote code execution or data exfiltration.

MitigationImplement input validation and sanitization for all user-supplied data before CSV export, escaping or removing formula-triggering characters (=, @, +, -, tab, CR, LF) and applying output encoding appropriate for CSV format.

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
Puppet EnterpriseApplication
Affected:< 2019.8.6

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
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check Puppet Enterprise version
    Run the command to retrieve the Puppet Enterprise version (e.g., 'puppet --version' or check the web UI dashboard for the version number)
    Affected if The installed version is lower than 2019.8.6 (e.g., 2019.8.5, 2019.8.0, or any 2019.x.x version below 2019.8.6)
  2. Confirm CSV export functionality exists
    Locate any feature in Puppet Enterprise that exports data to CSV format, such as report exports, user data exports, or any interface that generates CSV files from stored data
    Affected if CSV export functionality is present and operational in the environment
  3. Identify user-controlled data sources
    Review which data fields in Puppet Enterprise accept user input and can be included in CSV exports (e.g., node names, report data, user-provided attributes)
    Affected if User-supplied or user-modifiable data can be included in CSV export output
  4. Verify CSV export output
    Generate a CSV export from Puppet Enterprise and inspect the raw file content for unescaped formula-triggering characters (=, @, +, -, tab, CR, LF) at the start of any field values
    Affected if Raw CSV output contains unescaped formula characters (=, @, +, -, or whitespace) preceding data values, indicating the vulnerability is present

A user is affected if Puppet Enterprise version is below 2019.8.6 AND the CSV export feature is used to output any user-supplied or user-influenced data without sanitization of formula-triggering characters.

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 2019.8.6 or later
Fixed in 2019.8.6
Interim mitigation

Implement input validation and sanitization for all user-supplied data before CSV export, escaping or removing formula-triggering characters (=, @, +, -, tab, CR, LF) and applying output encoding appropriate for CSV format.

Recommended fix High confidence

Puppet Enterprise 2019.8.6

  1. 1. Back up your Puppet Enterprise installation and database before proceeding with any upgrade.
  2. 2. Review Puppet Enterprise upgrade documentation for your current version to ensure compatibility with 2019.8.6.
  3. 3. Download Puppet Enterprise 2019.8.6 from the Puppet official download portal.
  4. 4. Run the upgrade installer following Puppet's standard upgrade procedure.
  5. 5. Verify the upgrade completed successfully by checking the PE console and status endpoints.
  6. 6. Test the CSV export functionality to confirm the vulnerability is remediated.
Caveat Review release notes for any deprecations or breaking changes between your current version and 2019.8.6; ensure any custom integrations are compatible

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

Fix this in Puppet Enterprise Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,640
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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-2021-27020 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