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DevexpressApplication

CVE-2023-35815

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-04-28
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 21.2.12 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
DevExpress before 23.1.3 has a data-source protection mechanism bypass during deserialization on XML data.

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

DevExpress before version 23.1.3 contains a vulnerability allowing bypass of data-source protection mechanisms during XML deserialization. This critical flaw enables unauthenticated attackers to potentially execute arbitrary code or access protected data sources through specially crafted XML input.

MitigationUpgrade DevExpress components to version 23.1.3 or later to address the deserialization protection bypass. If immediate upgrading is not feasible, implement additional input validation and network segmentation as temporary mitigations.

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
DevexpressApplication
Affected:< 21.2.12= 22.1.8= 22.2.4= 22.2.5

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. Identify DevExpress components in your application
    Search your application binaries (bin folder) for DevExpress DLLs such as DevExpress.Data.v21.2.dll, DevExpress.XtraReports.v21.2.dll, DevExpress.XtraGrid.v21.2.dll, or check your project references/NuGet packages for DevExpress packages
    Affected if DevExpress assemblies are present and the version matches the affected ranges (< 21.2.12, 22.1.8, 22.2.4, or 22.2.5)
  2. Determine installed DevExpress version
    Right-click each DevExpress DLL, select Properties, then Details tab to view File Version. Alternatively, check the version in your packages.config or .csproj file if using NuGet
    Affected if The installed version number is less than 21.2.12, or exactly 22.1.8, 22.2.4, or 22.2.5
  3. Identify XML data source usage
    Search your codebase for XML data source configuration: look for code using XmlDataSource, DataSet loaded from XML, or DevExpress controls bound to XML files (for example, searches for '.ReadXml(', 'XmlDataSource', or XML file paths in configuration)
    Affected if The application loads or deserializes XML data from external or user-controlled sources without additional validation
  4. Check for unprotected XML deserialization endpoints
    Review web.config and application configuration for HTTP handlers or services that accept XML input and pass it to DevExpress data binding methods. Look for endpoint configurations that accept content-type text/xml or application/xml
    Affected if The application exposes endpoints that accept XML input and process it through DevExpress data binding without input validation or schema validation enabled
  5. Verify data source protection settings
    Examine DevExpress data source configuration files (often in App_Data or configuration sections) for ProtectionSettings or SecurityToken properties. Check if EnableSecurity or ProtectionMode is explicitly set to false or not configured
    Affected if Data source protection is disabled, not explicitly configured, or allows deserialization of untrusted XML content

Your environment is affected if DevExpress components matching the version ranges are installed AND the application processes XML data from external or untrusted sources without additional validation layers.

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 21.2.12 or later
Fixed in 21.2.12
Interim mitigation

Upgrade DevExpress components to version 23.1.3 or later to address the deserialization protection bypass. If immediate upgrading is not feasible, implement additional input validation and network segmentation as temporary mitigations.

Recommended fix High confidence

DevExpress 23.1.3 or later

  1. 1. Identify all DevExpress installations in your environment and note their current versions.
  2. 2. For versions < 21.2.12, plan upgrade directly to 23.1.3 or later.
  3. 3. For version 22.1.8, upgrade to 23.1.3 or later (22.1.9 may exist but 23.1.3 is the confirmed fixed release).
  4. 4. For versions 22.2.4 and 22.2.5, upgrade to 23.1.3 or later.
  5. 5. Before upgrading in production, test the new version in a staging environment to verify compatibility.
  6. 6. After upgrading, validate that the data-source protection mechanism properly handles XML data and blocks deserialization attacks.

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

Fix this in Devexpress Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
24.0 hours of engineering $4,160
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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-2023-35815 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