CVE-2021-35231
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 · uneditedAs a result of an unquoted service path vulnerability present in the Kiwi Syslog Server Installation Wizard, a local attacker could gain escalated privileges by inserting an executable into the path of the affected service or uninstall entry. Example vulnerable path: "Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Kiwi Syslog Server\Parameters\Application".
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 confidenceKiwi Syslog Server contains an unquoted service path vulnerability where the service executable path contains spaces and is not enclosed in quotes. This allows Windows to search for executables in intermediate path components, enabling a local attacker to place a malicious executable (e.g., 'Program.exe') in a parent directory to achieve privilege escalation when the service restarts.
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< 9.8CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Kiwi Syslog Server service existsOpen Services (services.msc) or run 'sc query' and look for a Kiwi Syslog related service entryAffected if No Kiwi Syslog Server service is found - the vulnerability does not apply
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Retrieve the service executable pathCheck the registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\<KiwiServiceName>\ImagePath, or run 'sc qc KiwiSyslogServer' to view the binary pathAffected if The service exists but the ImagePath is not retrievable - further manual investigation needed
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Check if the path contains spacesExamine the ImagePath value - if it contains spaces between directory names (e.g., C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\...), this indicates the unquoted path conditionAffected if The path contains spaces and is NOT enclosed in quotes - the environment is vulnerable
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Verify if path is properly quotedConfirm whether the entire executable path string begins and ends with double quotation marksAffected if The path contains spaces but lacks opening and closing quotes - the environment is vulnerable
A user is affected if the Kiwi Syslog Server service is installed and its executable path in the service configuration contains spaces without being enclosed in quotation marks.
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.
dbcve · scoped9.8
Reinstall Kiwi Syslog Server to a path without spaces (e.g., C:\KiwiSyslog\), or manually correct the registry service path to include quotes around the executable path.
Kiwi Syslog Server 9.8 or later
- Back up current Kiwi Syslog Server configuration and data
- Download Kiwi Syslog Server version 9.8 or later from the official SolarWinds download portal
- Stop the Kiwi Syslog Server service before upgrading
- Install version 9.8 or newer using the updated Installation Wizard which fixes the unquoted service path vulnerability
- After installation, verify the service path is properly quoted in the Windows Registry at HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Kiwi Syslog Server\Parameters\Application
- Start the Kiwi Syslog Server service and verify normal operation
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-35231 — 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-2021-35231 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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