# CVE-2021-40101: Missing authorization in n/a

> Attackers can change user passwords without current password verification, leading to account takeover in Concrete CMS.

- **Severity:** High 7.2 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 30 Nov 2021
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-mxmv-qp6q-4xjp

## What is CVE-2021-40101?

CVE-2021-40101 is a high-severity missing authorization vulnerability in Concretecms Concrete Cms, published on 30 Nov 2021. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An issue was discovered in Concrete CMS before 8.5.7. The Dashboard allows a user's password to be changed without a prompt for the current password.

Weakness: CWE-732 (Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-40101?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Concretecms Concrete Cms.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-40101?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-40101 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-40101 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-40101 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- Survey XSS combined with CSRF leads to Admin Account Takeover in Concrete5 8.5.4 (github_poc): https://github.com/S1lkys/CVE-2021-40101

## Other vulnerabilities in Concretecms Concrete Cms

- [CVE-2023-48648](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-48648/): Concrete CMS allows unauthorized access because directories can be created with insecure permissions (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2022-21829](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-21829/): Code injection in concrete CMS (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-22958](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-22958/): Server-Side Request Forgery vulnerability in concrete5 (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-40098](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-40098/): Path traversal in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-8134](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-8134/): Concrete CMS Vulnerable to Relative Path Traversal (critical 9.4)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-40101 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-40101 is a high-severity missing authorization vulnerability in Concretecms Concrete Cms, published on 30 Nov 2021. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-40101 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Concretecms Concrete Cms. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-40101/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-40101/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-40101
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-40101
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-40101

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-40101/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.