CVE-2021-45268

Exp

A Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability exists in Backdrop CMS 1.20, which allows Remote Attackers to gain Remote Code Execution (RCE) on the Hosting Webserver via uploading a maliciously add-on with crafted PHP file. NOTE: the vendor disputes this because the attack requires a session cookie of a high-privileged authenticated user who is entitled to install arbitrary add-ons

Published: 2022-02-03 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-45268 is rated High Exploit Risk (76.9/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.82%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). 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-2021-45268

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-45268

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 2026-06-25 1.71% 1.82% +0.12%
2 2026-06-15 0.45% 1.71% +1.26%
3 2025-11-21 — 0.45% —

Full EPSS history (28 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-45268

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
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.
 2.8 5.9 [email protected]
6.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 8.6 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-45268

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-45268

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
backdropcms backdrop 1.20.0 cpe:2.3:a:backdropcms:backdrop:1.20.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-45268

URL Tags
https://github.com/V1n1v131r4/CSRF-to-RCE-on-Backdrop-CMS Exploit Third Party Advisory
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/50323 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
cvelogic Threat Intelligence