CriticalCVE-2020-10148

    SolarWinds Orion Authentication Bypass Vulnerability (CVE-2020-10148)

    Published In CISA KEV since Sources: SingCERT, CVE.org

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    What is affected, what to do

    This vulnerability allows an attacker to bypass authentication and execute API commands on the SolarWinds Orion platform. Affected versions include 2019.4 HF 5, 2020.2 without a hotfix, and 2020.2 HF 1. The vulnerability is actively exploited in ransomware campaigns. Immediate patching to the latest version with a hotfix is critical to mitigate the risk.

    The vulnerability is being actively exploited; treat it as a priority. The available sources name no fixed version. Check the vendor guidance in the references below. Immediate actions, mitigation and detection rules are in the runbook below.

    Affected
    • SolarWinds Orion Platform eq 2019.4 HF 5..2019.4 HF 5
    • SolarWinds Orion Platform eq 2020.2 without hotfix..2020.2 without hotfix
    • SolarWinds Orion Platform eq 2020.2 HF 1..2020.2 HF 1

    Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

    Metrics

    9.8

    Priority

    XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

    Source: NVD, CVSS v3

    9.8

    CVSS v3

    Severity Critical on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: SingCERT, CVE.org

    92.0 %

    EPSS score

    High — model estimates ≥ 50% chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 99.82

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    Critical
    Priority (0–325)

    The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?

    Read in glossary
    228.71 Methodology
    Exploit maturity

    An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.

    Read in glossary
    actively exploitedSource: ANSSI / CERT-FR How we classify
    XIEM Effective CVSS

    XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.

    Read in glossary
    9.8 Methodology
    CVSS v3

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    9.8
    EPSS score

    The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.

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    92.0 %
    High — model estimates ≥ 50% chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days.
    EPSS percentile

    The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.

    Read in glossary
    99.82
    Critical — this CVE ranks in the top fifth of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 80%).
    KEV status

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    Actively exploited
    Published
    In CISA KEV since

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    CISA assessment (SSVC)
    Exploitation: active · automatable · Technical impact: total
    Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 1 August 2024
    CWE

    CWE is a catalogue of typical weakness types in software and hardware — such as flawed input validation, unsafe memory handling or poor authentication. Where a CVE names a concrete vulnerability in a concrete product, a CWE describes the underlying class of defect.

    Read in glossary
    CWE-288

    Response and mitigation

    Why act now?

    Prioritisation rationale

    This flaw is network-reachable without authentication or user interaction and hands an attacker API-level control of Orion. In practice that is enough to drop a web shell and gain code execution on a server that holds privileged credentials for the entire monitored estate, and the CVE is among those most likely to be exploited. CISA does not flag known ransomware use, but a compromised Orion box is an ideal launch point for lateral movement, which makes operators of network monitoring in KRITIS and mid-market environments natural targets. Treat any instance still on an affected release as critical; if it was ever internet-facing, assume compromise until proven otherwise and assess whether NIS2 incident-reporting obligations are triggered.

    1. Runbook step 1

      Immediate response (0-24 h)

      • Inventory: Enumerate every SolarWinds Orion instance, including Additional Web Servers and Additional Polling Engines, and confirm the installed version (Web Console footer or "Settings → My Orion Deployment"). Affected releases are Orion Platform 2019.4 HF 5, 2020.2 with no hotfix, and 2020.2 HF 1 (2020.2.1).
      • Patch: A fix is available from the vendor. Look up the exact hotfix version in the SolarWinds security advisory for CVE-2020-10148 and apply it consistently across all Orion components, then verify the resulting version and hotfix level.
      • Cut exposure now: Block the Orion Web Console (TCP 80/443) and the SWIS API (TCP 17778) from the internet and from non-admin segments. Allow access only from a dedicated admin jump host or management VLAN.
      • Hunt before you trust the box: Check the web root (e.g. C:\inetpub\SolarWinds\) for new or modified .ashx, .aspx and .dll files, and review historical IIS logs (see Detection). If you find anything, isolate the host and preserve evidence rather than simply patching over it.
      • Rotate secrets: If the instance was exposed or anything looks suspicious, rotate every credential stored in Orion: SNMP communities and v3 keys, WMI/domain service accounts, SSH credentials for network gear, and API tokens. Orion is a privileged hub with reach into everything it monitors.

    2. Runbook step 2

      Mitigation layers

      • Network segmentation: Move Orion into a management zone. Permit inbound traffic only from the admin subnet to 443/17778. Restrict outbound traffic to the monitoring protocols you actually need (SNMP 161/UDP, WMI/RPC, SSH) towards defined target networks, and block direct internet egress or force it through an allowlisted proxy.
      • WAF/reverse-proxy rule: Deny requests to Orion paths whose URI or PATH_INFO contains the bypass markers WebResource.adx, ScriptResource.adx, i18n.ashx or Skipi18n combined with non-static endpoints (e.g. /Orion/…/Skipi18n/… or …aspx/i18n.ashx). Alternatively, deploy the vendor-supplied workaround script that hardens web.config — see the vendor advisory for details.
      • IPS signature: Deploy a Suricata/Snort rule on HTTP traffic to Orion with content:"Skipi18n"; http_uri; or content:"i18n.ashx"; http_uri; followed by an .aspx/.ashx path segment. Run it in alert mode first, then switch to drop once you have a baseline.
      • Endpoint hardening: Use AppLocker/WDAC or an EDR policy to stop w3wp.exe (the Orion app pool) from spawning cmd.exe, powershell.exe, csc.exe or rundll32.exe. Enable file integrity monitoring on the Orion web directory.
      • IAM/least privilege: Remove Orion service accounts from Domain Admins, limit polling credentials to read-only (SNMPv3 authPriv, no RW community strings), and deny interactive logon for service accounts via GPO.

    3. Runbook step 3

      Detection rules

      • IIS access logs (Orion): Search for bypass patterns. SPL: index=iis host=orion* (cs_uri_stem="*Skipi18n*" OR cs_uri_stem="*i18n.ashx*" OR cs_uri_stem="*WebResource.adx*" OR cs_uri_stem="*ScriptResource.adx*") sc_status=200 | stats count by c_ip, cs_uri_stem. Treat successful responses to non-admin source IPs as high-fidelity hits.
      • Web shell indicators: Look for unusual hits on logoimagehandler.ashx carrying parameters such as clazz=, method= or codes=, a pattern known from web shell implants on Orion. Also flag POST requests to any unfamiliar .ashx handler.
      • Sysmon EID 1 / EDR process tree: ParentImage ends with \w3wp.exe and Image is cmd.exe, powershell.exe, whoami.exe, net.exe or csc.exe. Sigma shape: selection: ParentImage|endswith: '\w3wp.exe' AND Image|endswith: ['\cmd.exe','\powershell.exe','\csc.exe'].
      • Sysmon EID 11 / file creation: Flag new .dll, .ashx or .aspx files under C:\inetpub\SolarWinds\ or under Temporary ASP.NET Files created outside a change window. KQL: DeviceFileEvents | where FolderPath has @"inetpub\SolarWinds" and (FileName endswith ".dll" or FileName endswith ".ashx").
      • Network telemetry (Zeek/Suricata): Alert on outbound connections from the Orion server to internet destinations other than SolarWinds update endpoints, and on spikes of SWIS API calls (17778) from new sources in Zeek conn.log/http.log.

    Detection rules

    No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

    Classification under NIS2 and CRA

    Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

    NIS2

    NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

    Read in glossary
    Actively exploited: treat the vulnerability as a priority in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2. If it is exploited in your environment, check the reporting obligation under Art. 23 (early warning within 24 hours).
    CRA

    The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

    Read in glossary
    Since 11.09.2026, manufacturers of affected products with digital elements must report actively exploited vulnerabilities under Art. 14 CRA, with an early warning within 24 hours via ENISA's single reporting platform.
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

    Read in glossary
    Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

    Description

    The SolarWinds Orion API is vulnerable to an authentication bypass that could allow a remote attacker to execute API commands. This vulnerability could allow a remote attacker to bypass authentication and execute API commands which may result in a compromise of the SolarWinds instance. SolarWinds Orion Platform versions 2019.4 HF 5, 2020.2 with no hotfix installed, and 2020.2 HF 1 are affected.

    Source: CSA/SingCERT, NVD (NIST), cvelistv5, CISA KEV Catalog

    Affected products

    The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

    Affected products
    Affected versionsFixed in
    SolarWindsOrion Platform
    • 2020.2 HF 1
    • 2020.2 without hotfix
    • 2019.4 HF 5
    • —
    • —
    • —
    solarwindsorion_platform
    • 2020.2.1
    • 2020.2
    • 2019.4
    • —
    • —
    • —

    Vendors and products

    Weakness classes (CWE)

    • CWE-288Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel

      Base

      The product requires authentication, but the product has an alternate path or channel that does not require authentication.

      Entry at MITRE CWE-288

    Public exploit references

    Publicly reported proof-of-concepts, exploit modules and detection templates for this vulnerability. NEOSEC links to the original sources only and does not provide any exploit code.

    Public exploit references
    CISA KEV CatalogCISA Known Exploited Vulnerability (opens in a new tab)cisa.govactively exploited
    ANSSI / CERT-FRLicence Ouverte 2.0, as of CERTFR-2020-ALE-026 – [MaJ] Présence de code malveillant dans SolarWinds Orion (clôturée 2021-04-15) (opens in a new tab)cert.cyber.gouv.fractively exploited

    References & sources

    • solarwinds.comsecurityadvisoryx_refsource_CONFIRM, Vendor advisory
    • kb.cert.orgVU#843464Third-party advisory, x_refsource_CERT-VN, Third-party advisory, US government resource
    • kb.cert.orgvuls/id/843464Third-party advisory, US government resource
    • cisa.govknown-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2020-10148government-resource, US government resource
    • cert.cyber.gouv.frANSSI / CERT-FR: CERTFR-2020-ALE-026 – [MaJ] Présence de code malveillant dans SolarWinds Orion (clôturée 2021-04-15)cert-fr
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