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Nagios XiApplication · Nagios

CVE-2021-37347

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-08-13
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.8.5 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
Nagios XI before version 5.8.5 is vulnerable to local privilege escalation because getprofile.sh does not validate the directory name it receives as an argument.

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 confidence

Nagios XI versions before 5.8.5 contain a local privilege escalation vulnerability in the getprofile.sh script. The script fails to validate or sanitize the directory name argument it receives, allowing an attacker with local access to manipulate the path (likely through path traversal or symlink techniques) to write to privileged locations and escalate from a standard user account to root privileges.

MitigationUpgrade Nagios XI to version 5.8.5 or later, which implements proper validation of the directory name argument in getprofile.sh to prevent path manipulation attacks.

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
Nagios XiApplication
Affected:< 5.8.5

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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. Check if Nagios XI is installed
    Look for Nagios XI installation directories or check running processes. Common locations include /usr/local/nagiosxi/ or /opt/nagiosxi/. Run 'ps aux | grep nagios' or check for /usr/local/nagiosxi directory.
    Affected if Nagios XI is installed on the system.
  2. Determine the installed Nagios XI version
    Check the version file or use Nagios XI commands. Common methods: 'cat /usr/local/nagiosxi/etc/static.inc.php | grep version' or look for a version file in the installation directory.
    Affected if The installed version is less than 5.8.5.
  3. Locate the getprofile.sh script
    Search for the getprofile.sh script in common Nagios XI directories. Run 'find /usr -name getprofile.sh 2>/dev/null' or 'find /opt -name getprofile.sh 2>/dev/null'.
    Affected if The getprofile.sh script exists on the system.
  4. Check getprofile.sh script permissions and ownership
    Run 'ls -la <path_to_getprofile.sh>' to see permissions. Check if standard users have execute permissions or can modify the script.
    Affected if Standard users can execute or modify the script, or if the script is owned by a privileged user but writable by others.
  5. Verify if standard users can influence the directory argument
    Review the script contents if accessible: 'cat <path_to_getprofile.sh>' and check if the directory name argument is used without validation. Also check for symlink attack vectors in the /tmp directory or other writable locations.
    Affected if The script accepts a directory argument without sanitization and standard users can control or influence this argument.

A system is affected if Nagios XI is installed with a version before 5.8.5 AND the getprofile.sh script exists with permissions that allow standard users to trigger the path manipulation vulnerability.

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 5.8.5 or later
Fixed in 5.8.5
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Nagios XI to version 5.8.5 or later, which implements proper validation of the directory name argument in getprofile.sh to prevent path manipulation attacks.

Recommended fix High confidence

Nagios XI 5.8.5 or later

  1. Back up the current Nagios XI installation and database before proceeding with the upgrade
  2. Download Nagios XI version 5.8.5 or later from the official Nagios website (www.nagios.com)
  3. Run the standard Nagios XI upgrade procedure following the official upgrade documentation
  4. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the Nagios XI version in the web interface
  5. Ensure the getprofile.sh script is now properly validating directory arguments
Caveat Standard Nagios XI upgrade risks apply - review release notes for any configuration or feature changes before upgrading

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

Fix this in Nagios Xi Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,390
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,224.

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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-2021-37347 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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