CVE intelligence and bounded remediation
CVE-2021-25276 — Solarwinds Serv-U security vulnerability
In SolarWinds Serv-U before 15.2.2 Hotfix 1, there is a directory containing user profile files (that include users' password hashes) that is world readable and writable. An unprivileged Windows user (having access to the server's filesystem) can add an FTP user by copying a valid profile file to this directory. For example, if this profile sets up a user with a C:\ home directory, then the attacker obtains access to read or replace arbitrary files with LocalSystem privileges.
- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.1 (3.1)
- Published
- 2021-02-03
- CISA KEV
- Not currently listed
- Ecosystem
- windows/system
- Weaknesses
- CWE-732
Affected products
- solarwinds / serv-u
- solarwinds / serv-u / 15.2.2
Matched remediation archetype
Privilege escalation and unsafe privilege management
This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.
Check exposure
- Map service accounts, operating-system identities, roles, capabilities, impersonation, set-user transitions, and administrative helper paths.
- Determine whether untrusted users or lower-privilege processes can reach the affected transition or modify inputs it trusts.
- Review file, socket, registry, device, job, container, and cloud-role permissions used before and after privilege changes.
Remediate safely
- Apply the supported fix and redesign privileged operations as a minimal, authenticated, allowlisted interface.
- Drop privileges before processing untrusted input, verify the drop succeeds, and remove unnecessary roles, capabilities, and write permissions.
- Validate ownership and permissions at time of use and add explicit lower-to-higher privilege boundary tests.
Authoritative sources
Complete CVE record and remediation plan
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