Kentico CmsApplication · Kentico

CVE-2021-27581

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-03-05
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
The Blog module in Kentico CMS 5.5 R2 build 5.5.3996 allows SQL injection via the tagname parameter.

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 the Blog module of Kentico CMS 5.5 R2 (build 5.5.3996) allows unauthenticated attackers to inject malicious SQL queries through the tagname parameter, potentially enabling data exfiltration, authentication bypass, or complete database compromise.

MitigationUpgrade to a patched version of Kentico CMS or apply the vendor-supplied security patch that implements parameterized queries for the tagname parameter in the Blog module.

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
Kentico CmsApplication
Affected:= 5.5

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 installed Kentico CMS version
    Access the Kentico administration interface and navigate to the 'About' section, or check the CMSWebApp assembly version in the bin directory. Alternatively, locate the version.txt or release notes file in the installation directory.
    Affected if The version displayed is Kentico CMS 5.5 (build 5.5.3996) exactly.
  2. Determine if Blog module is installed
    Log into the Kentico CMS administration dashboard and check the 'Modules' section to see if the 'Blog' module is listed as installed and enabled.
    Affected if The Blog module is present and enabled in the Kentico CMS installation.
  3. Locate Blog module functionality using tagname parameter
    Inspect the Blog module handlers or URL routing configuration, typically found under /CMSModules/Blogs/ or similar paths. Look for aspx pages that accept a 'tagname' query string parameter in the Blog-related URLs.
    Affected if URLs or pages exist that accept a tagname parameter within the Blog module functionality.
  4. Verify unauthenticated access to Blog tagname endpoint
    Attempt to access a Blog page with a tagname parameter (e.g., /CMSPages/Blog.aspx?tagname=test) without providing any authentication credentials.
    Affected if The request returns a valid page response without requiring login, indicating the endpoint is accessible to unauthenticated users.

A system is affected if it runs Kentico CMS version 5.5 with the Blog module installed and exposes a tagname parameter endpoint that can be accessed without authentication.

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

Upgrade to a patched version of Kentico CMS or apply the vendor-supplied security patch that implements parameterized queries for the tagname parameter in the Blog module.

Fix this in Kentico Cms Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2021-27581 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