# CVE-2024-28989: SolarWinds Web Help Desk Cryptographic Key Management Vulnerability

> Hardcoded cryptographic keys in SolarWinds Web Help Desk allow attackers to disclose sensitive information.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 11 Feb 2025
- **Updated:** 11 Feb 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-7w44-cfph-xhh9

## What is CVE-2024-28989?

CVE-2024-28989 is a medium-severity vulnerability in SolarWinds Web Help Desk, published on 11 Feb 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

SolarWinds Web Help Desk was found to have a hardcoded cryptographic key that could allow the disclosure of sensitive information from the software.

Weakness: CWE-798 (Use of Hard-coded Credentials), CWE-321 (Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-28989?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Solarwinds Web Help Desk.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-28989?

No fix has been published for CVE-2024-28989 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2024-28989 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-28989 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in SolarWinds Web Help Desk

- [CVE-2025-40551](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-40551/): SolarWinds Web Help Desk Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-26399](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-26399/): SolarWinds Web Help Desk Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-28986](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-28986/): SolarWinds Web Help Desk Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-28987](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-28987/): SolarWinds Web Help Desk Hardcoded Credential (critical 9.1, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-40536](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-40536/): SolarWinds Web Help Desk Security Control Bypass (high 8.1, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-28989 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-28989 is a medium-severity vulnerability in SolarWinds Web Help Desk, published on 11 Feb 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-28989 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: SolarWinds Web Help Desk. 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-2024-28989/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-28989/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-28989
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-28989
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-28989

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-28989/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.