# CVE-2021-45008: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Insecure permissions in Plesk allow users to escalate privileges to admin rights, though the vendor claims this is site-specific.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 21 Feb 2022
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-84hm-26hq-gff5

## What is CVE-2021-45008?

CVE-2021-45008 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 21 Feb 2022. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Plesk CMS 18.0.37 is affected by an insecure permissions vulnerability that allows privilege Escalation from user to admin rights. OTE: the vendor states that this is only a site-specific problem on websites of one or more Plesk users

Weakness: CWE-281 (Improper Preservation of Permissions)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-45008?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Plesk Plesk.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-45008?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-45008 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-45008 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-45008 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- https://github.com/AS4mir/CVE-2021-45008 (github_poc): https://github.com/AS4mir/CVE-2021-45008

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2025-66430](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-66430/): Plesk 18.0 has Incorrect Access Control. (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2023-0829](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0829/): Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Plesk (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2021-45007](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-45007/): Cross-site request forgery in n/a (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2023-4931](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-4931/): Uncontrolled search path element vulnerability in Plesk (medium 6.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-45008 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-45008 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 21 Feb 2022. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-45008 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. 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-2021-45008/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-45008/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-45008
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-45008
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-45008

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-45008/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.