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Orion PlatformApplication · Solarwinds

CVE-2021-35234

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-12-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2020.2.5 or later.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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
Numerous exposed dangerous functions within Orion Core has allows for read-only SQL injection leading to privileged escalation. An attacker with low-user privileges may steal password hashes and password salt information.

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

SQL injection vulnerability in SolarWinds Orion Core allows authenticated low-privilege users to extract password hashes and salt values through exposed dangerous functions, enabling privilege escalation.

MitigationApply vendor-provided patches for Orion Core and rotate all potentially compromised credentials, especially admin passwords, as the attack allows extraction of password hashes and salts.

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
Orion PlatformApplication
Affected:<= 2020.2.5= 2020.2.6

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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 SolarWinds Orion Platform installation
    Check for Orion Core installation by reviewing installed programs on the server, or look for SolarWinds service processes (OrionService.exe, SolarWinds.BusinessLayerHost.exe) running on the system.
    Affected if SolarWinds Orion Platform is installed on the system
  2. Determine Orion Platform version
    Open the Orion Web Console and navigate to Settings > About, or check the SolarWinds Orion version information in the Windows Programs and Features list, or inspect the Orion Core installation directory for version files.
    Affected if The installed version is 2020.2.6 or any version <= 2020.2.5 (such as 2020.2.4, 2020.2.3, 2020.2.2, etc.)
  3. Verify low-privilege user authentication is enabled
    Review user accounts configured in Orion through the Web Console (Settings > User Accounts) and confirm that accounts with limited/standard privileges exist and can log in to the Orion interface.
    Affected if Low-privilege or standard user accounts are able to authenticate to the Orion platform
  4. Check for exposure of dangerous functions
    Review Orion configuration files (typically in the Orion installation directory under App_Data or Configuration folders) for custom modules or exposed API endpoints that may contain dangerous functions callable by authenticated users.
    Affected if Custom modules or endpoints exist that expose SQL functionality accessible to non-admin users

The environment is affected if SolarWinds Orion Platform versions 2020.2.6 or <= 2020.2.5 are installed and low-privilege authenticated users can access the platform, as the SQL injection allows hash extraction for privilege escalation.

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 a release after 2020.2.5
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor-provided patches for Orion Core and rotate all potentially compromised credentials, especially admin passwords, as the attack allows extraction of password hashes and salts.

Recommended fix High confidence

Orion Platform 2020.2.7 or later (or 2020.2.6 HF1 for the 2020.2.6 branch)

  1. 1. Identify the current Orion Platform version in the web console (Orion > Settings > All Settings > About SolarWinds)
  2. 2. If running Orion Platform 2020.2.5 or earlier, upgrade directly to version 2020.2.7 or later
  3. 3. If running Orion Platform 2020.2.6, apply Hotfix 1 (HF1) for CVE-2021-35234, or upgrade to version 2020.2.7 or later
  4. 4. After upgrade, verify the patch was applied by checking the version in About SolarWinds
  5. 5. Test that the application functions normally post-upgrade
Caveat Standard upgrade precautions apply: back up the Orion database and configuration before upgrading, test in staging if possible

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

Fix this in Orion Platform Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,280
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2021-35234 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