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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 30 Oct 2025.
GrafanaApplication

CVE-2021-43798

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-12-07
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 8.0.7 / 8.1.8 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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
Grafana is an open-source platform for monitoring and observability. Grafana versions 8.0.0-beta1 through 8.3.0 (except for patched versions) iss vulnerable to directory traversal, allowing access to local files. The vulnerable URL path is: `<grafana_host_url>/public/plugins//`, where is the plugin ID for any installed plugin. At no time has Grafana Cloud been vulnerable. Users are advised to upgrade to patched versions 8.0.7, 8.1.8, 8.2.7, or 8.3.1. The GitHub Security Advisory contains more information about vulnerable URL paths, mitigation, and the disclosure timeline.

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

Grafana versions 8.0.0-beta1 through 8.3.0 contain a directory traversal vulnerability in the /public/plugins/<plugin_id>/ endpoint, allowing unauthenticated attackers to access local files on the server via path traversal sequences.

MitigationUpgrade Grafana to patched versions 8.0.7, 8.1.8, 8.2.7, or 8.3.1. Alternatively, restrict access to the vulnerable endpoints at the network level until patching can be completed.

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
GrafanaApplication
Affected:>= 8.0.1, < 8.0.7>= 8.1.0, < 8.1.8>= 8.2.0, < 8.2.7= 8.0.0= 8.3.0

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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. Confirm Grafana is running
    Check for grafana-server process or service (e.g., systemctl status grafana-server, ps aux | grep grafana, or check if port 3000 is listening)
    Affected if Grafana is not running or not exposed on a reachable port, the vulnerability is not reachable
  2. Identify installed Grafana version
    Query the Grafana HTTP API endpoint /api/health or check the grafana-server --version output, or inspect the installed package version (dpkg -l grafana, rpm -qi grafana)
    Affected if Version falls within ranges: >= 8.0.1 and < 8.0.7, OR >= 8.1.0 and < 8.1.8, OR >= 8.2.0 and < 8.2.7, OR equals 8.0.0 or 8.3.0
  3. Verify plugin functionality is enabled
    Check grafana.ini configuration for 'enable_alpha_plugins' or 'plugins' settings, and confirm the /public/plugins/ path is routable in the Grafana web server
    Affected if Plugin static file serving is disabled or the plugins directory does not exist, the vulnerable endpoint is not accessible
  4. Test path traversal manually
    Send an HTTP GET request to /public/plugins/../../etc/passwd (or similar) against the Grafana server and observe if file contents are returned
    Affected if The request returns file contents outside the plugin directory, confirming the vulnerability is exploitable

You are affected if Grafana is running with a version in the vulnerable ranges AND the plugin static file endpoint is accessible, demonstrated by successfully reading files outside the plugin directory via path traversal.

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 8.0.7 / 8.1.8 / 8.2.7 or later
Fixed in 8.0.78.1.88.2.7
Vendor patch www.openwall.com →
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Grafana to patched versions 8.0.7, 8.1.8, 8.2.7, or 8.3.1. Alternatively, restrict access to the vulnerable endpoints at the network level until patching can be completed.

Recommended fix High confidence

Grafana 8.3.1 (or 8.0.7/8.1.8/8.2.7 depending on compatibility needs)

  1. Identify current Grafana version by checking the running instance or configuration files
  2. Backup Grafana configuration, dashboards, and any custom plugins before proceeding
  3. Review Grafana upgrade notes for breaking changes between current and target versions
  4. Upgrade Grafana to one of the patched versions: 8.0.7, 8.1.8, 8.2.7, or 8.3.1 (8.3.1 recommended for latest features and patches)
  5. Restart Grafana service after upgrade completes
  6. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking Grafana version in UI or via API
  7. Test that the vulnerability is mitigated by confirming the /public/plugins/<plugin-id>/ path no longer allows directory traversal beyond the plugin directory
Caveat Review release notes for breaking changes; major version upgrades may require dashboard adjustments or plugin compatibility checks

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

Fix this in Grafana Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,080
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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-2021-43798 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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