ArcApplication · Zauner

CVE-2021-45892

MEDIUM · 5.9 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-04-05
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 issue was discovered in Softwarebuero Zauner ARC 4.2.0.4. There is storage of Passwords in a Recoverable Format.

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

The Softwarebuero Zauner ARC 4.2.0.4 application stores user passwords in a recoverable format rather than using proper cryptographic hashing. This means passwords are either stored in plaintext or using reversible encryption, allowing attackers who obtain access to the password database to recover the original credentials.

MitigationImplement proper password hashing using a strong, salted key derivation function such as bcrypt, scrypt, or Argon2, and migrate existing passwords to the new secure format.

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
ArcApplication
Affected:= 4.2.0.4

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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/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 installed version of Zauner Arc
    Locate the application version through the software itself (about dialog, help menu) or check installation/manifest files for version metadata
    Affected if Version is exactly 4.2.0.4
  2. Identify password storage location
    Find where Zauner Arc stores user credential data - this is typically a database file, user configuration directory, or backend data store used by the application
    Affected if Version is 4.2.0.4 and password storage location can be located
  3. Examine stored password format
    Open or query the password storage and inspect how credentials are stored - look at whether passwords appear as readable text, encoded strings, or encrypted blobs that could be reversed to plaintext
    Affected if Passwords are stored in plaintext, base64-encoded, or use reversible encryption rather than cryptographic hashes
  4. Verify hashing mechanism is absent
    Check if stored passwords use proper key derivation functions (bcrypt, scrypt, Argon2) - these produce irreversible hashes; if passwords can be converted back to plaintext, proper hashing is not in use
    Affected if Passwords are stored in any recoverable format that allows recovery of the original plaintext credentials

If the installed version is 4.2.0.4 and passwords are stored in plaintext, base64, or any reversible encryption format instead of irreversible hashed values, the environment is affected by this CVE.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement proper password hashing using a strong, salted key derivation function such as bcrypt, scrypt, or Argon2, and migrate existing passwords to the new secure format.

Fix this in Arc Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
25.0 hours of engineering $4,400
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2021-45892 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