# CVE-2021-43798: Grafana - Path Traversal

> Live exploitation tracking for CVE-2021-43798 by the CrowdSec Live Exploit Tracker, built from real-world attack data crowdsourced from CrowdSec's global network.

Page: https://tracker.crowdsec.net/cves/CVE-2021-43798

## Key facts

- **Exploitation phase:** Background Noise. Continuous low-level scanning or exploitation attempts are observed, mostly opportunistic and automated.
- **CVSS score:** 7.5
- **Public exploit available:** Yes
- **Affected products:** Grafana
- **Weaknesses:** CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal'))
- **Tags:** web_application

## Description

Grafana is an open-source platform for monitoring and observability. Grafana versions 8.0.0-beta1 through 8.3.0 (except for patched versions) iss vulnerable to directory traversal, allowing access to local files. The vulnerable URL path is: `<grafana_host_url>/public/plugins//`, where is the plugin ID for any installed plugin. At no time has Grafana Cloud been vulnerable. Users are advised to upgrade to patched versions 8.0.7, 8.1.8, 8.2.7, or 8.3.1. The GitHub Security Advisory contains more information about vulnerable URL paths, mitigation, and the disclosure timeline.

## CrowdSec analysis

[CVE-2021-43798](https://euvd.enisa.europa.eu/vulnerability/CVE-2021-43798) is a directory traversal vulnerability in Grafana that enables attackers to gain unauthorized access to local files by exploiting crafted plugin URL paths.

CrowdSec has been tracking this vulnerability and its exploits since 9th of December 2021.

CrowdSec network data shows that most actors exploiting CVE-2021-43798 rely on broad, untargeted scans with minimal filtering. The activity is largely automated and opportunistic in nature.
CrowdSec network telemetry also shows that exploitation of CVE-2021-43798 has significantly declined over the past week. Attack volumes are well below the long-term average, suggesting attackers are rapidly losing interest. The vulnerability appears to be falling out of active use across most threat landscapes.

Attackers typically probe for URL patterns containing `/public/plugins/` to exploit this weakness.

## Timeline

- 2021-12-07: CVE Published. CVE-2021-43798 is published to NVD.
- 2021-12-09: Rule Released. CrowdSec releases a rule to detect CVE-2021-43798 exploitation attempts against the CrowdSec Network.
- 2021-12-09: CrowdSec First Seen. CrowdSec observes in-the-wild exploitation of CVE-2021-43798 for the first time.
- 2025-10-09: CISA KEV. CVE-2021-43798 is added to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog by CISA.
- 2025-10-30: CISA Remediation Deadline. Expiration of the CISA remediation deadline as described in [BOD 22-01](https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/directives/bod-22-01-reducing-significant-risk-known-exploited-vulnerabilities).

## References

- https://github.com/grafana/grafana/security/advisories/GHSA-8pjx-jj86-j47p
- https://github.com/grafana/grafana/commit/c798c0e958d15d9cc7f27c72113d572fa58545ce
- https://grafana.com/blog/2021/12/08/an-update-on-0day-cve-2021-43798-grafana-directory-traversal/
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20211229-0004/
- https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2021/CVE-2021-43798.yaml

## Live exploitation data

The [Live Exploit Tracker page](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/cves/CVE-2021-43798) follows observed exploitation activity for CVE-2021-43798. [Request an API key](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/request-api-key) for full access to its exploitation timeline, attacking IP addresses and blocklists.