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GrafanaApplication

CVE-2026-21721

HIGH · 8.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-01-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 11.6.9 / 12.0.8 or later.
See remediation →
87/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable 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 dashboard permissions API does not verify the target dashboard scope and only checks the dashboards.permissions:* action. As a result, a user who has permission management rights on one dashboard can read and modify permissions on other dashboards. This is an organization‑internal privilege escalation.

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 · high confidence

The dashboard permissions API has a broken access control where it only validates the dashboards.permissions:* action without verifying the target dashboard scope. This allows any user with permission management rights on one dashboard to read and modify permissions across all dashboards in the organization, enabling internal privilege escalation.

MitigationImplement proper scope verification in the dashboard permissions API to ensure users can only modify permissions for dashboards they are explicitly authorized to manage, not just any dashboard.

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
GrafanaApplication
Affected:>= 10.2.0, < 11.6.9>= 12.0.0, < 12.0.8>= 12.1.0, < 12.1.5>= 12.2.0, < 12.2.3= 11.6.9= 12.0.8= 12.1.5= 12.2.3= 12.3.0= 12.3.1

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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 Grafana version
    Run `grafana-server --version` or check the version file typically at /usr/share/grafana/version or in the grafana.ini config file
    Affected if The installed version falls within the affected ranges: >= 10.2.0 < 11.6.9, >= 12.0.0 < 12.0.8, >= 12.1.0 < 12.1.5, >= 12.2.0 < 12.2.3, or equals 11.6.9, 12.0.8, 12.1.5, 12.2.3, 12.3.0, 12.3.1
  2. Check for dashboards.permissions role assignments
    Inspect Grafana organization permissions or role definitions for any user or team assigned the dashboards.permissions:* action. This can be done via Grafana HTTP API: GET /api/access-control/org/roles or through the UI at /org/permissions
    Affected if Any user or service account has been assigned the dashboards.permissions:* permission scope
  3. Verify dashboard-level permission boundaries
    Review which dashboards a user with dashboards.permissions:* can access. Use the API GET /api/dashboards/uid/{uid} for multiple dashboards to see if a user with limited dashboard access can query permissions for dashboards they should not own
    Affected if A user with access to only specific dashboards can retrieve or modify permissions on dashboards outside their assigned scope
  4. Inspect dashboard permissions API responses
    Make a test API call to the permissions endpoint for a dashboard the user should not own: GET /api/dashboards/uid/{target-dashboard-uid}/permissions. Compare the response to what the user should actually be able to access based on their explicit dashboard permissions
    Affected if The API returns permission data for dashboards the user does not own or has not been explicitly granted access to

You are affected if your Grafana version is one of the affected versions listed AND any user has been granted the dashboards.permissions:* permission scope that could access dashboards beyond their intended scope.

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 11.6.9 / 12.0.8 / 12.1.5 or later
Fixed in 11.6.912.0.812.1.5
Interim mitigation

Implement proper scope verification in the dashboard permissions API to ensure users can only modify permissions for dashboards they are explicitly authorized to manage, not just any dashboard.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to Grafana 11.6.9 (for 10.x users) or 12.2.3 (for 12.x users) or later

  1. 1. Identify the currently installed Grafana version using `grafana-cli --version` or checking the grafana-server logs
  2. 2. Determine which version branch you are on (10.x, 12.0.x, 12.1.x, or 12.2.x)
  3. 3. For Grafana 10.x users: upgrade to version 11.6.9 or later (recommended: latest 11.x LTS)
  4. 4. For Grafana 12.0.x users: upgrade to version 12.0.8 or later
  5. 5. For Grafana 12.1.x users: upgrade to version 12.1.5 or later
  6. 6. For Grafana 12.2.x users: upgrade to version 12.2.3 or later
  7. 7. Download the appropriate upgrade package from grafana.com or your distribution package repository
  8. 8. Backup your Grafana database (SQLite, PostgreSQL, or MySQL) and configuration files before upgrading
Caveat Review Grafana release notes before upgrading; major version jumps may introduce breaking changes in plugins, dashboards, or API behavior

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

Fix this in Grafana Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
21.0 hours of engineering $3,680
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,888.

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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-2026-21721 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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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