CVE-2021-38618
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 · uneditedIn GFOS Workforce Management 4.8.272.1, the login page of application is prone to authentication bypass, allowing anyone (who knows a user's credentials except the password) to get access to an account. This occurs because of JSESSIONID mismanagement.
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 confidenceGFOS Workforce Management 4.8.272.1 has an authentication bypass vulnerability in its login page due to improper JSESSIONID session management. Attackers who obtain a user's credentials (username/identifier) can manipulate or reuse session IDs to bypass authentication and gain unauthorized access to accounts without knowing the password.
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= 4.8.272.1CVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/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 installed GFOS Workforce Management versionLocate the GFOS installation directory and check version file, or query the application via its built-in about/info endpoint if availableAffected if Installed version is exactly 4.8.272.1
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Verify JSESSIONID is in useAccess the login page and inspect HTTP response headers and cookies for JSESSIONIDAffected if JSESSIONID cookie is present and returned without secure random generation
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Check session ID format and randomnessGenerate multiple login attempts and compare JSESSIONID values - check if they follow predictable patterns or have low entropyAffected if Session IDs appear sequential, predictable, or reusable across different authentication attempts
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Test session fixation vulnerabilityObtain a JSESSIONID before authentication, then attempt to use that same ID after logging in with valid credentialsAffected if The pre-authentication JSESSIONID remains valid and grants access after successful login (session fixation allowed)
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Check session invalidation behaviorLog in, note the JSESSIONID, then log out, then attempt to reuse the same JSESSIONIDAffected if Session remains valid after logout (not invalidated)
A user is affected if GFOS Workforce Management version 4.8.272.1 is running and the JSESSIONID session handling allows session fixation or fails to properly invalidate sessions after logout.
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 dataImplement proper session ID lifecycle management: generate cryptographically secure, random session IDs; invalidate sessions after logout or failed auth attempts; bind sessions to user IP/User-Agent; implement session fixation protection.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,888.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-38618 — 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-2021-38618 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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