CVE-2021-35239
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 · uneditedA security researcher found a user with Orion map manage rights could store XSS through via text box hyperlink.
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 confidenceThis is a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in SolarWinds Orion platform. A user with 'Orion map manage rights' can inject malicious JavaScript code through a hyperlink in a text box field. When other users view the affected map content, the stored XSS payload executes in their browsers, potentially allowing session hijacking, credential theft, or defacement.
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<= 2020.2.5= 2020.2.6CVSS 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
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
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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Check SolarWinds Orion Platform versionLog into the Orion web interface and navigate to Settings > About, or run 'swi_getversion' from the SolarWinds Information Service (SWIS) command line tool. Compare the version number to the affected ranges: <= 2020.2.5 or exactly 2020.2.6.Affected if The installed version is 2020.2.5 or earlier, or is exactly 2020.2.6.
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Identify users with Orion map manage rightsIn the Orion web interface, go to Settings > All Settings > User Accounts > Manage Accounts. Look for users assigned the 'Orion Map Manage' permission or a role that includes map management capabilities. Alternatively, query SWIS for accounts with the 'Orion.Map.Manage' permission.Affected if There are any user accounts granted Orion map manage rights in the system.
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Inspect map content for suspicious hyperlinksNavigate to the Maps view in Orion (typically via the Views > Maps menu). Open each map that contains text box or label elements. Right-click on text fields and inspect the underlying HTML, or export maps to check for encoded script tags in hyperlink href attributes.Affected if Any map contains hyperlinks with javascript: URIs or script tags in the text/href fields.
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Review recent map creation/modification activityIn Orion, go to Settings > All Settings > Activity Log or Web Console Logging. Filter logs for events related to map creation, map editing, or object additions within the affected timeframe. Look for entries from users with map manage rights.Affected if Maps were recently created or modified by users with map manage rights.
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Verify map sharing settingsIn the Maps view, check which maps are shared with other users or groups. Open map properties and review the 'Share' or 'Permissions' settings to determine which users can view each map.Affected if Maps with potentially malicious content are shared with users other than the map creator.
You are affected if your SolarWinds Orion Platform version is 2020.2.5 or earlier, or exactly 2020.2.6, AND any user with map manage rights has created or modified maps that are viewable by other users.
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 · scopedApply the SolarWinds security patch for CVE-2021-35239. Until patched, restrict the number of users granted 'Orion map manage rights' to only those absolutely required, and monitor for suspicious content in map text fields.
Orion Platform 2020.2.7 or later
- Upgrade the SolarWinds Orion Platform to a version newer than 2020.2.6 to remediate this stored XSS vulnerability.
- After upgrading, verify that users with 'Orion map manage rights' can no longer inject malicious scripts through text box hyperlink fields.
- Review user permissions and restrict map manage rights to only necessary administrative users as a defense-in-depth measure.
- Test the fixed version in a non-production environment before deploying to production.
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,224.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-35239 — 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-2021-35239 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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