MauticApplication · Acquia

CVE-2021-27915

CRITICAL · 9.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-09-17
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.4.12 or later.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable

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
Prior to the patched version, there is an XSS vulnerability in the description fields within the Mautic application which could be exploited by a logged in user of Mautic with the appropriate permissions. This could lead to the user having elevated access to the system.

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

Stored XSS vulnerability in Mautic's description fields that can be exploited by authenticated users with appropriate permissions. The flaw allows injection of malicious scripts into description inputs, which could enable privilege escalation by compromising admin sessions or performing actions on behalf of higher-privileged users.

MitigationApply the patched version of Mautic that includes proper input sanitization and output encoding for description fields. Review and validate all user-supplied input in similar fields throughout the application.

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
MauticApplication
Affected:>= 1.0.0, < 4.4.12= 1.0.0

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
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/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 Mautic version
    Locate the Mautic version in the admin dashboard under Configuration > System Info or check the version file in the Mautic installation directory
    Affected if Version is 1.0.0 or any version >= 1.0.0 and < 4.4.12
  2. Review user roles with description field access
    In Mautic admin panel, navigate to Users > Roles and Permissions to identify which authenticated user roles have create or edit permissions for elements containing description fields (such as categories, segments, or custom objects)
    Affected if Any authenticated user role has permissions to access and modify description fields
  3. Test description field for input sanitization
    Using a user account with description field permissions, attempt to insert a test script tag such as <script>alert('XSS')</script> into a description field and save the record
    Affected if The script tag is stored and rendered without being escaped or sanitized when the record is displayed

You are affected if your Mautic version is 1.0.0 or between 1.0.0 and 4.4.11 inclusive AND authenticated users with description field edit permissions exist in your system.

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 4.4.12 or later
Fixed in 4.4.12
Interim mitigation

Apply the patched version of Mautic that includes proper input sanitization and output encoding for description fields. Review and validate all user-supplied input in similar fields throughout the application.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Mautic 4.4.12 or later

  1. Verify current Mautic version by checking the application or config file
  2. Backup the Mautic database and files before upgrading
  3. Download Mautic version 4.4.12 or the latest stable release from the official Mautic repository (github.com/mautic/mautic)
  4. Follow Mautic upgrade documentation to apply the update
  5. Clear application cache after upgrade
  6. Verify the upgrade was successful and test that the description fields function correctly
Caveat Check Mautic release notes for any breaking changes between your current version and 4.4.12

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

Fix this in Mautic 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
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-27915 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-27915 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