Authentication Bypass in SolarWinds Web Help Desk
CVE-2025-40554 is a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD). SolarWinds describes it as allowing an attacker to invoke specific actions within Web Help Desk without proper authentication. Supporting technical reporting indicates the flaw affects WHD versions prior to 2026.1, including 12.8.8 Hotfix 1 and below, and is reachable remotely. Research on the WHD vulnerability set attributes CVE-2025-40554 to an auth bypass in the WebObjects/Ajax action handling path, allowing invocation of Ajax-related actions without authentication. Additional public detection content describes the issue as achievable through WebObjects session path manipulation, where a manipulated WebObjects path can expose administrative functionality such as the LoginPref configuration page without valid credentials. The vulnerability is significant on its own because it breaks intended authentication boundaries, and it is also reported as chainable with WHD deserialization flaws such as CVE-2025-40553 to reach pre-authentication remote code execution.
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Exploits
2 valid exploits after Mallory filtered fakes, detection scripts, and README-only repos (1 hidden).
Repository contains a single Python exploit tool (CVE-2025-40554.py) plus a README. The script targets SolarWinds Web Help Desk WebObjects endpoints and implements an end-to-end workflow: (1) normalize a target base URL, (2) establish an HTTP session to /helpdesk/WebObjects/Helpdesk.woa and extract the WebObjects session id (WOSID) and optional XSRF token from headers/cookies/body, (3) test/trigger an authentication bypass by requesting /helpdesk/WebObjects/Helpdesk.woa/wo/bogus.wo/<WOSID>/1.0 with parameters badparam=/ajax/ and wopage=LoginPref, and (4) optionally perform default-credential login testing and “exploit mode” actions such as session cookie export for use in a browser/Burp and admin-related enumeration. It supports single-target and bulk scanning from a file, quiet output, and saving vulnerable targets to an output file. No external exploit framework is used; it is a standalone network exploitation script.
Repository contains a Nuclei template plus a standalone Python PoC targeting SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD) authentication bypass (CVE-2025-40554; script also mentions CVE-2025-40536). Structure: - CVE-2025-40554.yaml: Nuclei detection template that requests /helpdesk/WebObjects/Helpdesk.woa, fingerprints WHD via page keywords, extracts a build token (?v=...) to derive a dotted version, and flags targets with version < 2026.1. - exploit_auth_bypass.py: Operational network PoC that automates (1) session establishment and extraction of WebObjects session id (wosid) from headers/cookies/body and optional XSRF token, (2) bypass check by requesting /helpdesk/WebObjects/Helpdesk.woa/wo/bogus.wo/{wosid}/1.0 with parameters badparam=/ajax/ and wopage=LoginPref and looking for indicators like externalAuthContainer/JSONRpcClient/SAML/LoginPref, and (3) optional login by parsing the login form action, CSRF field (_csrf), and submit control, then POSTing credentials (default client/client). It supports single target (-t) or list mode (-l), quiet output (-q), and writes results to an output file (default vulnerable_login.txt). - README.md: Usage examples, Shodan favicon hash query, and Nuclei invocation. - requirements.txt: requests dependency. Capabilities: remote unauthenticated bypass verification against WHD WebObjects endpoints and optional credentialed login attempt; no explicit code execution payload is implemented, though the README/YAML note that vendor scoring suggests potential RCE impact in the broader vulnerability set.
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Recent activity
37 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
A second authentication bypass vulnerability (as described) in SolarWinds Web Help Desk, identified by WatchTowr (WT-2025-0101).
An authentication bypass vulnerability in SolarWinds Web Help Desk that is part of a pre-auth remote code execution chain enabling takeover of exposed on-prem help desk servers without credentials.
Pre-authentication bypass in SolarWinds Web Help Desk that enables unauthenticated access to Ajax-related actions/endpoints, sufficient to reach the AjaxProxy deserialization sink when chained with deserialization issues.
An authentication bypass in SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD) achieved by manipulating the WebObjects session path, enabling unauthenticated access to administrative configuration content.
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Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.
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