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Web Help DeskApplication · Solarwinds

CVE-2021-35251

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-03-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 12.7.8 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Sensitive information could be displayed when a detailed technical error message is posted. This information could disclose environmental details about the Web Help Desk installation.

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

Web Help Desk returns detailed technical error messages that disclose environmental information such as server paths, software versions, or configuration details. An attacker could use this information to better understand the system's configuration and identify further vulnerabilities.

MitigationConfigure custom error pages to display generic messages to end users while logging detailed errors server-side; ensure detailed error messages are only accessible to authenticated administrators.

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
Web Help DeskApplication
Affected:< 12.7.8

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
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check installed Web Help Desk version
    Access the SolarWinds Web Help Desk administration interface and locate the version information, typically found in the About or System Information section
    Affected if The installed version is lower than 12.7.8 (for example, 12.7.7, 12.6.x, or earlier)
  2. Trigger an error condition
    Submit intentionally invalid input to the application, such as malformed data in a form field, or attempt to access a non-existent resource or endpoint
    Affected if The returned error page displays detailed technical information such as server file paths, software version numbers, stack traces, or internal configuration details
  3. Inspect error response headers and body
    Use browser developer tools or a command-line HTTP client to capture the full response from an error-generating request, examining both the HTML body and any HTTP headers
    Affected if The response contains environment-specific details including absolute file paths, framework versions, database connection strings, or other server configuration information
  4. Verify custom error handling configuration
    Check if the Web Help Desk is configured to return generic user-facing error messages while logging detailed errors separately (this may require access to the administration configuration or server configuration files)
    Affected if Detailed technical errors are visible to unauthenticated or all users rather than being replaced with generic messages

You are affected if your SolarWinds Web Help Desk version is below 12.7.8 AND detailed error messages containing server paths, software versions, or configuration information are visible to users

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 12.7.8 or later
Fixed in 12.7.8
Interim mitigation

Configure custom error pages to display generic messages to end users while logging detailed errors server-side; ensure detailed error messages are only accessible to authenticated administrators.

Recommended fix High confidence

Web Help Desk 12.7.8

  1. Back up the current Web Help Desk installation and database
  2. Download Web Help Desk version 12.7.8 or later from the SolarWinds customer portal
  3. Follow the standard SolarWinds upgrade procedure to install version 12.7.8
  4. Verify the upgrade was successful by accessing the Web Help Desk interface
  5. Test that error messages no longer expose sensitive environmental information

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

Fix this in Web Help Desk Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,220
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,952.

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-2021-35251 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