CVE-2021-43835 | Privilege escalation in the Sulu Admin panel

Sulu is an open-source PHP content management system based on the Symfony framework. In affected versions Sulu users who have access to any subset of the admin UI are able to elevate their privilege. Over the API it was possible for them to give themselves permissions to areas which they did not already had. This issue was introduced in 2.0.0-RC1 with the new ProfileController putAction. The versions have been patched in 2.2.18, 2.3.8 and 2.4.0. For users unable to upgrade the only known workaround is to apply a patch to the ProfileController manually.

Published: 2021-12-15 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-43835 is rated Moderate Risk (51.4/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.13%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-43835

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 0.30% 1.13% +0.83%
2 2025-03-30 0.59% 0.30% -0.29%
3 2025-03-29 0.59%

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-43835

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.2 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 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:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
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:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.2 5.9 [email protected]
6.5 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P 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:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
8.0 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-43835

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2021-43835

GHSA-84px-q68r-2fc9 · Severity: high · Ecosystem: composer — Privilege escalation in the Sulu Admin panel

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-43835

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
sulu sulu >= 2.0.0, < 2.2.18 cpe:2.3:a:sulu:sulu:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sulu sulu >= 2.3.0, < 2.3.8 cpe:2.3:a:sulu:sulu:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sulu sulu 2.4.0 cpe:2.3:a:sulu:sulu:2.4.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-43835

cvelogic Threat Intelligence