CVE-2021-38180
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 · uneditedSAP Business One - version 10.0, allows an attacker to inject formulas when exporting data to Excel (CSV injection) due to improper sanitation during the data export. An attacker could thereby execute arbitrary commands on the victim's computer but only if the victim allows to execute macros while opening the file and the security settings of Excel allow for command 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 confidenceCSV injection vulnerability in SAP Business One version 10.0 allows attackers to inject malicious formulas into exported Excel/CSV data due to improper input sanitization. When victims open the crafted file with macros enabled and Excel security settings permitting command execution, arbitrary code can be executed on the victim's machine.
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= 10.0CVSS 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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Verify SAP Business One versionCheck installed SAP Business One version via SAP Business One Client or in Control Center - typically found in Help > About or system information panelsAffected if Version is 10.0 and the system handles exports to Excel/CSV
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Identify exported CSV/Excel filesReview export history or audit logs in SAP Business One for recent exports to .csv or .xlsx formats, or check user document folders for recently created export filesAffected if Exports from SAP Business One 10.0 exist and contain data that originated from user input fields
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Inspect exported files for formula injectionOpen any recently exported CSV/Excel files from SAP Business One in a text editor or spreadsheet application and look for cells beginning with =, +, -, @, tab (0x09), or carriage return (0x0D) characters that indicate formula injection payloadsAffected if Exported files contain formula characters at the start of cell values
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Check Excel macro security settingsIn Excel, go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Macro Settings, or check Group Policy settings for Microsoft Office macro execution policiesAffected if Macros are set to 'Enable all macros' or 'Disable all macros with notification' (user can enable them) on machines that open SAP exports
Environment is affected if SAP Business One version 10.0 is installed, users export data to Excel/CSV, and Excel macro settings allow macro execution on the recipient machines.
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 dataApply vendor patch when available; meanwhile, disable macros by default in Excel, configure restrictive security settings, and train users not to enable macros when opening exported files from SAP Business One.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-38180 — 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-2021-38180 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data