dbcve.org
InsightvmApplication · Rapid7

CVE-2021-3844

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-03-24
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.5.50 or later.
See remediation →
61/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

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
Rapid7 InsightVM suffers from insufficient session expiration when an administrator performs a security relevant edit on an existing, logged on user. For example, if a user's password is changed by an administrator due to an otherwise unrelated credential leak, that user account's current session is still valid after the password change, potentially allowing the attacker who originally compromised the credential to remain logged in and able to cause further damage. This vulnerability is mitigated by the use of the Platform Login feature. This issue is related to CVE-2019-5638.

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

InsightVM fails to invalidate active user sessions when an administrator changes a user's password or makes other security-relevant edits. This allows previously compromised sessions to remain valid even after credential rotation, enabling an attacker who obtained initial credentials to maintain persistent access.

MitigationEnable Platform Login as the primary authentication method to mitigate this vulnerability, or implement session invalidation logic that terminates all active sessions when security-relevant user attributes are modified.

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
InsightvmApplication
Affected:< 6.5.50

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
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

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 InsightVM version
    Locate the installed InsightVM version in the product console or admin interface, typically found in Help > About or System Information
    Affected if Version is below 6.5.50
  2. Identify authentication method
    Check the authentication configuration in InsightVM admin settings to determine if Platform Login is enabled or if local/user-based authentication is in use
    Affected if Local user authentication (not Platform Login) is configured
  3. Assess session management
    Review user session configuration in the admin console to confirm active sessions can persist after password changes
    Affected if No session invalidation occurs when user passwords are modified

Environment is affected if InsightVM version is below 6.5.50 and Platform Login authentication is not enabled, allowing compromised sessions to remain valid after credential changes.

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 6.5.50 or later
Fixed in 6.5.50
Interim mitigation

Enable Platform Login as the primary authentication method to mitigate this vulnerability, or implement session invalidation logic that terminates all active sessions when security-relevant user attributes are modified.

Recommended fix High confidence

InsightVM 6.5.50 or later

  1. Verify current InsightVM version by accessing the Administration > System Information page
  2. Backup current InsightVM configuration and database
  3. Download InsightVM version 6.5.50 or later from the Rapid7 download portal
  4. Follow standard InsightVM upgrade procedures: stop the console service, run the installer, verify database connectivity after upgrade
  5. After upgrade, verify that session invalidation now occurs when an administrator changes user credentials
  6. Alternatively, if immediate upgrade is not possible, enable the Platform Login feature as a mitigation as mentioned in the official description
Caveat Review Rapid7 release notes for 6.5.50 for any configuration or feature changes before upgrading

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

Fix this in Insightvm Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
32.0 hours of engineering $5,600
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,960.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-3844 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2021-3844 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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