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MagentoCMS

CVE-2021-36023

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 Commerce versions 2.4.2 (and earlier), 2.4.2-p1 (and earlier) and 2.3.7 (and earlier) are affected by an XML Injection vulnerability in the Widgets Update Layout. An attacker with admin privileges can trigger a specially crafted script to achieve remote code execution.

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 XML Injection vulnerability in the Widgets Update Layout component of Magento Commerce. An attacker with admin-level privileges can inject malicious XML content through the widget layout configuration, which can then be parsed in an unsafe manner to achieve arbitrary code execution on the server.

MitigationApply the official Magento security patch or upgrade to a patched version (2.4.2-p2 or later for the 2.4.x branch, 2.3.7-p1 or later for the 2.3.x branch). Since admin privileges are required, also review and limit admin user accounts and implement strong authentication controls.

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. Identify installed Magento version
    Run command: php bin/magento --version or check composer.json for the magento/product-community-edition or magento/product-enterprise-edition version entry
    Affected if The installed version is less than 2.3.7, OR equals 2.3.7, OR equals 2.4.2, OR is between 2.4.0 and 2.4.2 (exclusive)
  2. Verify admin access exists
    Check the admin_user table in the Magento database or attempt to access the admin panel at /admin with valid credentials
    Affected if Any active admin-level user account exists in the system
  3. Confirm Widget functionality is accessible
    Navigate to Content > Elements > Widgets in the Magento admin panel, or query the widget table in the database
    Affected if The Widgets component is present and accessible in the admin interface

If the Magento version falls within the affected ranges AND an admin account exists with access to the Widgets component, the environment is vulnerable to CVE-2021-36023.

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

Apply the official Magento security patch or upgrade to a patched version (2.4.2-p2 or later for the 2.4.x branch, 2.3.7-p1 or later for the 2.3.x branch). Since admin privileges are required, also review and limit admin user accounts and implement strong authentication controls.

Recommended fix High confidence

Magento Commerce 2.4.3+ or 2.3.8+ (depending on your major version branch)

  1. Identify the current Magento Commerce edition (Open Source or Commerce) and your installed version using bin/magento --version
  2. For Magento Commerce 2.4.x: Upgrade to version 2.4.3 or later by running composer require magento/product-community-edition 2.4.3 --no-update (or appropriate version for your edition)
  3. For Magento Commerce 2.3.x: Upgrade to version 2.3.8 or later by running composer require magento/product-community-edition 2.3.8 --no-update
  4. Run composer update to install the new packages
  5. Clear the cache with bin/magento cache:flush
  6. Re-index with bin/magento indexer:reindex
  7. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking bin/magento --version
Caveat Review Adobe Commerce upgrade documentation for breaking changes between your current version and target version; ensure compatibility with PHP version and third-party extensions

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

Fix this in Magento Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,640
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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-2021-36023 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