CVE-2021-41252
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 · uneditedKirby is an open source file structured CMS ### Impact Kirby's writer field stores its formatted content as HTML code. Unlike with other field types, it is not possible to escape HTML special characters against cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, otherwise the formatting would be lost. If the user is logged in to the Panel, a harmful script can for example trigger requests to Kirby's API with the permissions of the victim. Because the writer field did not securely sanitize its contents on save, it was possible to inject malicious HTML code into the content file by sending it to Kirby's API directly without using the Panel. This malicious HTML code would then be displayed on the site frontend and executed in the browsers of site visitors and logged in users who are browsing the site. Attackers must be in your group of authenticated Panel users in order to exploit this weakness. Users who do not make use of the writer field are not affected. This issue has been patched in Kirby 3.5.8 by sanitizing all writer field contents on the backend whenever the content is modified via Kirby's API. Please update to this or a later version to fix the vulnerability.
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 analysisUntrusted input is placed into a web page without being neutralised, so an attacker's markup or script executes in another user's browser. That can hijack sessions, capture keystrokes, or silently perform actions as the victim. Fixing it properly means context-aware output encoding everywhere data meets HTML, backed by a content-security policy as a second line of defence.
General guidance for the cross-site scripting (xss) class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
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>= 3.5.0, <= 3.5.7.1CVSS 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
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
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 · scopedKirby 3.5.8 or later
- 1. Back up your entire Kirby installation and content files before upgrading
- 2. Update Kirby CMS to version 3.5.8 or later using your preferred method (composer update, panel updater, or manual download)
- 3. After upgrading, verify that writer field content is properly sanitized when saved via the API
- 4. Clear any cached content if your site uses caching
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-41252 — 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-2021-41252 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