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Photo StationApplication · Qnap

CVE-2021-44057

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-05-05
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.4.13 / 5.7.16 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
An improper authentication vulnerability has been reported to affect QNAP device running Photo Station. If exploited, this vulnerability allows attackers to compromise the security of the system. We have already fixed this vulnerability in the following versions of Photo Station: Photo Station 6.0.20 ( 2022/02/15 ) and later Photo Station 5.7.16 ( 2022/02/11 ) and later Photo Station 5.4.13 ( 2022/02/11 ) and later

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 confidence

This is an improper authentication vulnerability in QNAP Photo Station that allows remote attackers to bypass authentication mechanisms and compromise the system. The CVSS 9.8 score indicates the vulnerability is remotely exploitable and allows full compromise of the affected system without requiring user interaction or elevated privileges.

MitigationUpdate Photo Station to version 6.0.20 (or later), 5.7.16 (or later), or 5.4.13 (or later) depending on the installed major version line. If updating is not immediately possible, consider disabling Photo Station or restricting network access to the QNAP device.

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
Photo StationApplication
Affected:< 5.4.13>= 5.6.0, < 5.7.16>= 6.0.0, < 6.0.20

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
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Locate the Photo Station version in the QNAP App Center
    Open the QNAP web interface, navigate to App Center, find Photo Station in the installed applications list, and note the version number displayed
    Affected if The displayed version falls within < 5.4.13, or >= 5.6.0 and < 5.7.16, or >= 6.0.0 and < 6.0.20
  2. Check Photo Station version via the Photo Station about page
    Access Photo Station directly through the web interface (usually at /photo/) and navigate to the About or Settings page to confirm the exact version
    Affected if The version shown is any of the vulnerable versions listed above
  3. Verify Photo Station is exposed to the network
    Confirm that Photo Station is accessible from external networks or that the QNAP device has port forwarding or VPN exposure that allows remote access to the Photo Station web interface
    Affected if Photo Station is accessible from untrusted networks without additional authentication barriers beyond what the application provides

A user is affected if Photo Station is installed and running any version before 5.4.13, between 5.6.0-5.7.15, or between 6.0.0-6.0.19, and the application is network-accessible.

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 5.4.13 / 5.7.16 / 6.0.20 or later
Fixed in 5.4.135.7.166.0.20
Interim mitigation

Update Photo Station to version 6.0.20 (or later), 5.7.16 (or later), or 5.4.13 (or later) depending on the installed major version line. If updating is not immediately possible, consider disabling Photo Station or restricting network access to the QNAP device.

Recommended fix High confidence

Photo Station 6.0.20 (or later 6.x); Photo Station 5.7.16 (or later 5.7.x); Photo Station 5.4.13 (or later 5.4.x)

  1. 1. Identify the current version of Photo Station installed on the QNAP device via the Photo Station application or QTS storage manager
  2. 2. Determine which version branch is currently in use (5.4.x, 5.7.x, or 6.x)
  3. 3. Download the appropriate fixed version from QNAP's official download center: https://www.qnap.com/en-us/download?category=app#apps
  4. 4. Install the updated Photo Station via the QTS App Center or by manually uploading the QPKG file
  5. 5. Verify the installation completed successfully and the Photo Station version matches the fixed release
Caveat No breaking changes documented in the official advisory

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

Fix this in Photo Station Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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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-2021-44057 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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