CVE-2021-40101
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 · uneditedAn issue was discovered in Concrete CMS before 8.5.7. The Dashboard allows a user's password to be changed without a prompt for the current password.
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 confidenceThe Dashboard component in Concrete CMS versions prior to 8.5.7 contains an authentication bypass flaw that allows changing any user's password without first requiring the current password for verification. This enables privilege escalation where a low-privileged user or attacker with Dashboard access can take over administrator accounts.
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< 8.5.7CVSS 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
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/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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Determine Concrete CMS installed versionLog into the Dashboard and scroll to the footer page, or check the version file in your Concrete CMS installation directory. Compare the version number against 8.5.7.Affected if The installed version is less than 8.5.7
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Verify Dashboard access for non-administrator usersReview user accounts and their assigned permissions. Check if any user group other than Administrators has access to the Dashboard area, particularly the user management or account settings sections.Affected if Any user account with Dashboard access exists and the CMS version is below 8.5.7
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Test password change behavior without current passwordUsing a non-administrator account that has Dashboard access, navigate to the user profile or account settings area and attempt to change a password. Observe whether the system prompts for the current password as verification before allowing a new password to be set.Affected if The system allows changing a password without requiring the current password as verification, particularly for another user's account
Your environment is affected if the installed Concrete CMS version is below 8.5.7 AND any user has Dashboard access that permits password modification without current password verification.
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.
dbcve · scoped8.5.7
Upgrade Concrete CMS to version 8.5.7 or later which implements proper current password verification before allowing password changes.
8.5.7
- 1. Create a complete backup of your Concrete CMS database and files
- 2. Download Concrete CMS version 8.5.7 from the official repository or your dashboard
- 3. Replace the existing Concrete CMS core files with the new 8.5.7 version files
- 4. Run any available database upgrade scripts or use the built-in updater
- 5. Clear all caches to ensure new code is loaded
- 6. Verify that the Dashboard now requires the current password before allowing a password change
- 7. Test that user password changes work correctly with the new security check in place
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-40101 — 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-2021-40101 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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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.
- 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