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MagentoCMS

CVE-2021-36021

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-09-06
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.3.7 / 2.4.2 or later.
See remediation →
78/100
Remediation priority · High
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
Magento versions 2.4.2 (and earlier), 2.4.2-p1 (and earlier) and 2.3.7 (and earlier) are affected by an Improper input validation vulnerability within the CMS page scheduled update feature. An authenticated attacker with administrative privilege could leverage this vulnerability to achieve remote code execution on 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 · high confidence

This is an improper input validation vulnerability in Magento's CMS page scheduled update feature. An authenticated attacker with administrative privileges can exploit insufficient input validation to inject and execute arbitrary code on the server, leading to remote code execution.

MitigationUpgrade Magento to version 2.4.3 or later, or 2.3.8 or later. Additionally, restrict administrative access to only trusted personnel and implement least-privilege access controls for admin accounts.

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
MagentoCMS
Affected:< 2.3.7>= 2.4.0, < 2.4.2= 2.3.7= 2.4.2

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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 checks

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

  1. Determine installed Magento version
    Run command: php bin/magento --version or inspect the composer.json file in the Magento root directory for the version entry
    Affected if The version is 2.3.x before 2.3.7, or 2.4.0 through 2.4.2 inclusive
  2. Verify CMS module is installed and enabled
    Check if the Magento_Cms module is enabled by running: php bin/magento module:status Magento_Cms
    Affected if The CMS module is present and enabled (this is required for the vulnerable scheduled update feature to exist)
  3. Confirm scheduled update functionality exists
    Navigate to Content > Pages > Select a page > Schedule New Update in the Magento admin panel, or inspect the database table cms_page_history for scheduled update records
    Affected if Scheduled update capability is accessible in the admin interface (the vulnerability lies in this feature's input validation)
  4. Review admin user access controls
    Inspect admin user roles and permissions in the admin panel under System > Permissions > User Roles, or check the admin_users table in the database
    Affected if Multiple admin accounts exist with full or elevated privileges (an authenticated admin is required to exploit this vulnerability)

You are affected if your Magento installation version falls within 2.3.x before 2.3.7 or 2.4.0 through 2.4.2, and the CMS page scheduled update feature is accessible to admin 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 2.3.7 / 2.4.2 or later
Fixed in 2.3.72.4.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Magento to version 2.4.3 or later, or 2.3.8 or later. Additionally, restrict administrative access to only trusted personnel and implement least-privilege access controls for admin accounts.

Recommended fix High confidence

Magento 2.4.3 (or 2.3.7-p1 for the 2.3.x branch)

  1. Verify current Magento installation version using bin/magento --version or admin panel
  2. Create a complete backup of the Magento database and filesystem
  3. Enable maintenance mode: bin/magento maintenance:enable
  4. Run composer to update Magento: composer require magento/product-community-edition=2.4.3 --no-update
  5. Run composer update to install the new version
  6. Clear the cache: bin/magento cache:flush
  7. Run Magento upgrade commands: bin/magento setup:upgrade
  8. Compile dependency injection: bin/magento setup:di:compile
Caveat Magento 2.4.3 requires PHP 7.4 or 8.1, MySQL 8.0, and Elasticsearch 7.x; verify compatibility of custom code and third-party extensions before upgrading

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

Fix this in Magento Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
36.0 hours of engineering $6,400
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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-2021-36021 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