Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-35246 affects SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset 2022.3 and earlier. The application may allow users to connect without enforced encryption, exposing credentials or session data to interception by someone who can alter network traffic.
Executive priority
Treat this as a moderate confidentiality risk. It is not listed as known exploited in the supplied evidence, but credential exposure can create downstream compromise paths.
Technical view
This is a CWE-319 unprotected transport issue involving missing or insufficient HSTS enforcement. CVSS 3.1 is 5.3, network exploitable with low complexity and no privileges. The recorded impact is limited confidentiality loss, with no integrity or availability impact in the CVSS vector.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most relevant where SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset is accessible across untrusted, shared, or poorly controlled networks and is version 2022.3 or earlier.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or confirmed active exploitation. Abuse would require an attacker able to modify legitimate user network traffic.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to public CVE and SolarWinds references. Do not infer broader SolarWinds product impact. Focus validation on ETS 2022.3 and earlier, transport enforcement, and vendor-confirmed remediation.
Mitigation direction
- Identify all SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset installations and versions.
- Prioritize systems running 2022.3 or earlier.
- Check SolarWinds advisory and release notes for the fixed or supported upgrade path.
- Restrict access to trusted networks until remediation is complete.
- Ensure HTTPS/TLS-only access controls are enforced where administratively possible.
Validation and detection
- Confirm installed Engineer's Toolset version on each host.
- Review configuration for any HTTP-accessible application paths.
- Validate HTTPS enforcement from user network segments.
- Check whether HSTS behavior matches SolarWinds guidance.
- Document compensating controls for any delayed upgrades.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-319: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-35246 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 5.3 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N3.91.4Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
5.3MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.solarwinds.com/trust-center/security-advisories/CVE-2021-35246CVE reference
- https://documentation.solarwinds.com/en/success_center/ets/content/release_notes/ets_2022-4_release_notes.htmCVE reference
- https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2021-35246CVE reference
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Cleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information
Cleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.