CVE-2021-38163

SAP NetWeaver (Visual Composer 7.0 RT) versions - 7.30, 7.31, 7.40, 7.50, without restriction, an attacker authenticated as a non-administrative user can upload a malicious file over a network and trigger its processing, which is capable of running operating system commands with the privilege of the Java Server process. These commands can be used to read or modify any information on the server or shut the server down making it unavailable.

CVSS: 9.9Criticalscored by the publisher (CNA)
Exploited in the wild: Yes, in CISA KEV since 9 Jun 2022CISA deadline for US federal agencies: 30 Jun 2022unvetted proof-of-concept code on github
EPSS: 36.9%chance of exploitation in the next 30 daystop 2% of scored CVEsFIRST score of 11 Nov 2026
Fix: Patch availablesee the advisories in the references
Published: 14 Sept 2021analysed here 12 Nov 2026

Do first. Apply updates per vendor instructions. (CISA's required action for this KEV entry)

Summary

Triage

Attack surface: Server-side
Exploitable: At runtime
Attack vector: network
Weakness: CWE-22 Path Traversal
Can a WAF block it?: Yes. See why

The summary, impact and action text on this page are written by our AI analysis pipeline, or taken from the NVD description when a CVE was imported from NVD. They are not the vendor's wording: check them against the sources. A longer AI executive summary and technical analysis are generated for signed-in accounts on the Max plan.

Affected products

Product	Affected versions	Vendor says fixed in
SAP SE SAP NetWeaver (Visual Composer 7.0 RT)	7.307.317.407.50Vendor says fixed in: not stated	Not stated by the vendor

As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.

Products named in our analysis

sap:netweaver

Fix and mitigation

WAF and other mitigations

Can a WAF block it? Yes. Path traversal sends `../` sequences in the request, which WAF rules catch, including the common encodings.

Also consider: canonical path validation

Based on the weakness type only; no CVE-specific evidence yet. We check Cloudflare, AWS, Google Cloud Armor and Azure; for Akamai, Imperva, Fastly, F5, ask your vendor.

Remediation steps (AI-written)

Step-by-step remediation is generated for accounts on the Max plan, for CVEs that match a technology in their stack. Add this technology to your stack to see the fix checklist.

Exploitation evidence

CISA KEV catalog: Listed since 9 Jun 2022.
CISA due date: 30 Jun 2022, the remediation deadline for US federal agencies
CISA required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Public exploit code: Unvetted proof-of-concept code on GitHub: 2 GitHub proofs of concept
CISA SSVC: exploitation active, automatable no, technical impact totalAssessed by CISA 29 Jan 2025 (SSVC 2.0.3). Exploitation is none, poc (public proof of concept) or active.

GitHub proofs of concept

core1impact/CVE-2021-381634 stars
purpleteam-ru/CVE-2021-381630 stars

Listed so you can judge urgency, not as a recommendation to run anything. GitHub “proofs of concept” are unvetted: some are fake or carry malware. Exploit-DB marks the entries its staff verified.

Timeline

14 Sept 2021Published
9 Jun 2022Added to CISA KEV (exploited in the wild)267 days (about 9 months) later
30 Jun 2022CISA remediation due date (US federal agencies)21 days later
10 Sept 2022First proof-of-concept repository on GitHub (unvetted)72 days (about 2 months) later
29 Jan 2025CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation active873 days (about 2 years) later
21 Oct 2025CVE record last updated265 days (about 9 months) later
12 Nov 2026Analysed by vulneraibility.com387 days (about 1 year) later

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Metric	Value	What it means
Attack vector	NetworkReachable over the internet or any routable network.	Reachable over the internet or any routable network.
Attack complexity	LowRepeatable attack, no special conditions.	Repeatable attack, no special conditions.
Privileges required	LowThe attacker needs basic user privileges.	The attacker needs basic user privileges.
User interaction	NoneNo victim action needed.	No victim action needed.
Scope	ChangedImpact crosses a security boundary into other components.	Impact crosses a security boundary into other components.
Confidentiality	HighTotal data disclosure possible.	Total data disclosure possible.
Integrity	HighComplete modification possible.	Complete modification possible.
Availability	HighFull outage possible.	Full outage possible.

Common questions

Is CVE-2021-38163 being exploited?

Yes. CVE-2021-38163 appears in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed and reported. Treat it as active rather than theoretical, and patch it ahead of higher-scoring vulnerabilities that carry no exploitation evidence.

How severe is CVE-2021-38163?

CVE-2021-38163 is rated Critical with a CVSS score of 9.9. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.

Is there a patch for CVE-2021-38163?

Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2021-38163. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.

What does CVE-2021-38163 affect?

CVE-2021-38163 affects sap:netweaver. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.

Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.

References

NVD CVE.org CVE Details Source

3 references in the CVE record, grouped by the tags the record gives them.

Where the data on this page comes from

CVE List (CVE.org): description, affected versions, references; CVE Terms of Use
NVD: CVSS and CPE data
CISA KEV catalog: exploitation, date added, due date
CISA Vulnrichment (ADP): SSVC decision points
FIRST EPSS: exploit probability and percentile
PoC-in-GitHub: GitHub repositories that claim a proof of concept

Summary, impact and triage tags: written by our AI analysis pipeline from the sources above. Check them against the sources.

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