CVE-2021-36471
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 · uneditedDirectory Traversal vulnerability in AdminLTE 3.1.0 allows remote attackers to gain escalated privilege and view sensitive information via /admin/index2.html, /admin/index3.html URIs. Note: AdminLTE developers dispute that this a weakness with AdminLTE and is instead a misconfiguration error on various websites by the website developers.
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 confidenceA directory traversal vulnerability in AdminLTE 3.1.0 allows remote attackers to access privileged admin pages (/admin/index2.html, /admin/index3.html) without proper authentication, enabling escalation of privilege and unauthorized access to sensitive information.
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= 3.1.0CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify AdminLTE versionCheck your project's package.json, composer.json, or any version tracking file for 'adminlte' or 'adminlte.io' version 3.1.0. If running a deployed instance, check the main JavaScript or CSS file for the version string.Affected if The installed version is exactly 3.1.0
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Verify admin page files existCheck if the files /admin/index2.html and /admin/index3.html exist in the web root or application directory of your AdminLTE deployment.Affected if These admin pages are present in the web-accessible directory
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Test unauthenticated access to admin pathsSend HTTP GET requests to your domain/admin/index2.html and /admin/index3.html without providing any authentication credentials. Use curl or browser developer tools to inspect the response.Affected if The pages load successfully with HTTP 200 status and display admin content without requiring login
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Check web server configurationReview your web server (Apache/Nginx/IIS) configuration files for any rules that restrict access to /admin/ paths. Look for authentication requirements, IP restrictions, or authorization middleware.Affected if No authentication or authorization controls are configured for /admin/ paths
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Review routing configurationExamine your application routing rules to determine if /admin/* routes are protected by authentication middleware or require session/cookie validation.Affected if Routes to /admin/ pages have no authentication guard or middleware enforcement
You are affected if AdminLTE version 3.1.0 is installed and the /admin/index2.html or /admin/index3.html pages are accessible over the network without any authentication.
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.
From vendor dataRestrict access to /admin/ paths by implementing proper authentication and authorization controls. Ensure admin interfaces are not exposed to unauthenticated users and validate all server-side access controls.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-36471 — 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-2021-36471 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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