Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Form Tools through 3.0.20 has a reflected cross-site scripting issue. A low-privileged user can inject script content through the submission_id parameter while viewing a form submission. This could affect users who open crafted links or views, especially if higher-privileged staff interact with the affected page.
Executive priority
Handle as a near-term application security fix if Form Tools is in use. The issue is not KEV-listed and lacks severity scoring, but authenticated XSS can still create business risk when staff accounts or form data workflows are involved.
Technical view
The CVE describes reflected XSS in clients/forms/edit_submission.php via the submission_id parameter, with form_id and view_id also present. The affected scope is stated as Form Tools through 3.0.20. The provided record has no CVSS score, CWE, confirmed patch version, or vendor advisory detail.
Likely exposure
Organizations running Form Tools through 3.0.20 may be exposed, especially where low-privileged users can access form submission views. Exposure is more relevant for authenticated portals or administrative workflows than anonymous public browsing, based on the CVE description.
Exploitation context
The source bundle includes public research and proof-of-concept references, but CISA KEV is false and no cited source in the bundle confirms active exploitation. Treat exploit availability as public research evidence, not proof of real-world attacks.
Researcher notes
The CVE metadata is sparse: affected vendor/product fields are not normalized, severity is unknown, and no CVSS or CWE is provided. Analysis is therefore limited to the stated Form Tools version range, vulnerable route, parameter, low-privileged trigger condition, and public reference links.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory Form Tools deployments and identify versions through 3.0.20.
- Check Form Tools vendor or project guidance for fixed versions or official remediation.
- Restrict low-privileged access to submission editing views where possible.
- Apply normal XSS controls: output encoding, input validation, and session hardening.
- Prioritize review if privileged users regularly open user-controlled submission links.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether Form Tools is deployed and record the exact version.
- Review access controls for clients/forms/edit_submission.php and submission viewing workflows.
- Test safely for reflected script handling without using harmful payloads.
- Check logs for unusual requests containing suspicious submission_id values.
- Verify remediation against vendor guidance after updating or applying controls.
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.
CVE-2021-38144 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
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
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 and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.formtools.org/CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/formtools/coreCVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://bernardofsr.github.io/blog/2021/form-tools/CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/bernardofsr/CVEs-With-PoC/blob/main/PoCs/Form%20Tools/README.mdCVE 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.