# CVE-2021-44478: Cross-site scripting in Polarion ALM

> Cross-site scripting in Polarion WebClient for SVN allows attackers to execute arbitrary code and extract sensitive information via crafted links.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 8 Mar 2022
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-44g4-c9hw-qp42

## What is CVE-2021-44478?

CVE-2021-44478 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in Siemens Polarion ALM, published on 8 Mar 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

A vulnerability has been identified in Polarion ALM (All versions < V21 R2 P2), Polarion WebClient for SVN (All versions). A cross-site scripting is present due to improper neutralization of data sent to the web page through the SVN WebClient in the affected product. An attacker could exploit this to execute arbitrary code and extract sensitive information by sending a specially crafted link to users with administrator privileges.

Weakness: CWE-79 (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-44478?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Siemens Polarion Alm, Siemens Polarion Subversion Webclient.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-44478?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-44478 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-44478 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-44478 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Siemens Polarion ALM

- [CVE-2023-50236](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-50236/): Privilege escalation in Polarion ALM (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2024-23813](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-23813/): Missing authorization in Polarion ALM (high 7.3)
- [CVE-2024-51444](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-51444/): SQL injection in Polarion V2310 (high 7.1)
- [CVE-2024-51445](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-51445/): XML external entity in Polarion V2310 (high 7.1)
- [CVE-2024-51447](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-51447/): Information disclosure in Polarion V2310 (medium 6.9)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-44478 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-44478 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in Siemens Polarion ALM, published on 8 Mar 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-44478 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Siemens Polarion ALM. 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-2021-44478/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-44478/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-44478
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-44478
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-44478

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-44478/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.