CVE-2025-40552
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 · uneditedSolarWinds Web Help Desk was found to be susceptible to an authentication bypass vulnerability that if exploited, would allow a malicious actor to execute actions and methods that should be protected by authentication.
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 confidenceSolarWinds Web Help Desk contains an authentication bypass vulnerability allowing unauthenticated attackers to access protected administrative functions and execute actions that normally require valid credentials. This critical flaw in the authentication mechanism enables complete system compromise without legitimate user credentials.
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< 2026.1CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm SolarWinds Web Help Desk installationLocate the installation directory or check running services for SolarWinds Web Help Desk (commonly installed in C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\Web Help Desk or /opt/solarwinds/webhelpdesk on Linux)Affected if Software is installed and running on the system
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Identify installed versionCheck the version file in the installation directory, or access the web interface and look for version information in the About/Help section, or run: whd --version from the bin directoryAffected if Version is lower than 2026.1
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Verify web interface accessibilityAttempt to access the Web Help Desk login page over HTTP/HTTPS (default ports 8080 or 8443) from a network locationAffected if Web interface responds to network requests
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Test authentication boundaryAttempt to access administrative endpoints directly without credentials (e.g., /api/v1/admin, /helpdesk/WebObjects/HelpDesk.woa)Affected if Administrative functions are reachable without authentication
If SolarWinds Web Help Desk is running with a version prior to 2026.1 and the web interface is network-accessible, the environment is affected by this authentication bypass vulnerability.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 · scoped2026.1
Immediately apply vendor-provided security patches for SolarWinds Web Help Desk and implement network segmentation to restrict access to the Help Desk interface until the update can be deployed.
2026.1
- 1. Back up the current Web Help Desk installation and all associated data
- 2. Download Web Help Desk version 2026.1 from the official SolarWinds customer portal
- 3. Follow the official SolarWinds upgrade documentation to install version 2026.1
- 4. After upgrade, verify the installation was successful and test that authentication is working properly
- 5. Confirm the version number displays as 2026.1 in the Web Help Desk admin interface
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-40552 — 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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-40552 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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
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