CVE-2026-28309
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 Serv-U is affected by a broken access control vulnerability that allows a domain administrator to create system administrator accounts. The impact is lower in Windows deployments.
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 Serv-U contains a broken access control vulnerability that permits a domain administrator to create system administrator accounts, resulting in privilege escalation. The CVSS 9.1 score indicates critical severity due to the ability to elevate privileges beyond the intended role boundaries.
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< 2026.3CVSS 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
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/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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Identify if SolarWinds Serv-U is installedCheck for Serv-U installation directories or installed programs on the systemAffected if Serv-U is present on the system
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Determine the installed Serv-U versionUse the Serv-U administrative interface or check the application version through the help/about menu, or locate the version in the installation directoryAffected if The installed version is lower than 2026.3
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Verify domain administrator role configurationReview the Serv-U user roles and permissions configuration to confirm domain administrator role exists and its assigned permissionsAffected if Domain administrator role is configured with permissions that could create elevated accounts
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Check for system administrator account creation permissionsReview the access control settings to determine whether domain administrators have the ability to create system administrator-level accountsAffected if Domain administrators have permission to create system administrator accounts beyond their intended role-based access
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Audit recent administrative account creationReview Serv-U audit logs or administrative activity logs for account creation events, particularly system administrator account creations by domain administratorsAffected if Domain administrator accounts have recently created system administrator-level accounts
User is affected if running SolarWinds Serv-U version lower than 2026.3 with domain administrator accounts that possess the ability to create system administrator accounts beyond their intended role-based access controls.
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.
From vendor data2026.3
Apply vendor-provided patches or updates for Serv-U that address the broken access control vulnerability. If no patch is available, implement strict role-based access control (RBAC) policies and monitor administrative account creation activities.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,968.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-28309 — 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-2026-28309 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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