Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 5 Nov 2024.
Web Help DeskApplication · Solarwinds

CVE-2024-28987

CRITICAL · 9.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-08-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 12.8.3 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS 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
The SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD) software is affected by a hardcoded credential vulnerability, allowing remote unauthenticated user to access internal functionality and modify 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

SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD) contains a hardcoded credential vulnerability that allows remote unauthenticated attackers to bypass authentication and access internal functionality, potentially enabling data modification.

MitigationIdentify and change the hardcoded credential, restrict network exposure of the WHD interface, apply vendor patches when available, and implement proper credential management with multi-factor authentication.

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
Web Help DeskApplication
Affected:< 12.8.3= 12.8.3

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
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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. Identify if SolarWinds Web Help Desk is installed
    Check your system for SolarWinds Web Help Desk software by reviewing installed applications, services, or running processes related to 'SolarWinds' or 'Web Help Desk'. On Windows, check Program Files; on Linux, check common installation directories like /opt/.
    Affected if The software is present on the system.
  2. Determine the installed version
    Locate the Web Help Desk version information, typically found in the software UI under Help > About, in an installed version file, or via command-line tools provided by the product. Compare your version against the affected range: versions < 12.8.3 and version 12.8.3.
    Affected if The installed version is lower than 12.8.3 or equals exactly 12.8.3.
  3. Assess network exposure
    Determine if the SolarWinds Web Help Desk interface is accessible from external networks or the internet. Check firewall rules, reverse proxies, and NAT configurations that expose the Web Help Desk web interface (typically on ports 80, 443, or custom ports) to untrusted networks.
    Affected if The web interface is reachable from untrusted networks without VPN or proper network segmentation.
  4. Review authentication configuration
    Examine the authentication settings and configuration files within Web Help Desk. Look for any hardcoded credentials, backdoor accounts, or unexpected authentication mechanisms that may have been added to the configuration.
    Affected if Hardcoded credentials or unexpected authentication backdoors are found in the configuration.

Your environment is affected if SolarWinds Web Help Desk version 12.8.3 or any version below 12.8.3 is installed and exposed to the network, and hardcoded credentials are present in the configuration.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 12.8.3 or later
Fixed in 12.8.3
Interim mitigation

Identify and change the hardcoded credential, restrict network exposure of the WHD interface, apply vendor patches when available, and implement proper credential management with multi-factor authentication.

Fix this in Web Help Desk Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-28987 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-28987 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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