Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Akaunting 2.1.12 and earlier allowed dangerous code execution through invoice price handling. A highly privileged user updating an invoice could make the application execute a PHP callable. The issue was fixed in 2.1.13. Business urgency is highest for organizations running affected Akaunting versions with exposed administrative access.
Executive priority
Prioritize remediation if Akaunting is used for finance workflows, especially if administrative access is internet-facing or broadly assigned. The flaw has high impact, but the cited CVSS privileges requirement reduces broad unauthenticated exposure.
Technical view
CVE-2021-36800 is a CWE-94 code injection flaw in Akaunting Money.php. A POST to /{company_id}/sales/invoices/{invoice_id} with a crafted items[0][price] value can be executed directly as a PHP callable. CVSS 3.1 is 8.7 with network access, low complexity, high privileges, no user interaction, and changed scope.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to Akaunting deployments running version 2.1.12 or earlier. The CVSS vector indicates exploitation requires high privileges, so affected paths are most relevant where invoice-editing users, admins, or compromised privileged accounts can access the application.
Exploitation context
The provided sources describe the vulnerable request pattern and fixed version, but do not cite active exploitation. The CVE is not marked KEV in the source bundle. Risk is mainly from malicious insiders, compromised privileged accounts, or exposed administrative interfaces.
Researcher notes
Evidence supports code injection in Money.php through invoice price processing and a fix in 2.1.13. The source bundle does not provide exploit status beyond the request shape, and it does not identify affected versions beyond 2.1.12 and earlier.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Akaunting to version 2.1.13 or later.
- Restrict access to Akaunting administrative and invoice-editing functions.
- Review privileged Akaunting accounts and remove unnecessary access.
- Check vendor and Rapid7 guidance for any additional hardening recommendations.
- Monitor logs for unusual invoice update activity.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Akaunting deployments and confirm installed versions.
- Verify no production instance is running 2.1.12 or earlier.
- Confirm invoice update access is limited to required privileged users.
- Review application logs for suspicious sales invoice update requests.
- Validate the upgrade in staging before production rollout.
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-94: Code execution behavior lookup
Code execution and unsafe deserialization weaknesses often justify reviewing execution behavior and process telemetry. 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 lookupExecution behavior lookup
The CVE wording references code or command execution, so execution technique review may help defensive triage. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-36800 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
- High
- CVSS
- 8.7 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/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:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N2.35.8Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
8.7HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.rapid7.com/blog/post/2021/07/27/multiple-open-source-web-app-vulnerabilities-fixed/CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
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.
Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')
Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection') represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.