CVE-2024-21738VulnerabilityPublished 9 Jan 2024Updated 3 Jun 2025

CVE-2024-21738: SAP NetWeaver ABAP Application Server and ABAP Platform · Cross-site Scripting

Affects SAP NetWeaver ABAP Application Server and ABAP PlatformSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.1 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

4.1Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 22% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: Required
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: Low
Integrity: None
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
Confidentiality: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 9 Jan 2024
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

AI-suggested

1. Immediate assessment of SAP NetWeaver ABAP Application Server and ABAP Platform versions in use to identify if they fall within the affected SAP_BASIS versions (700 through 794). 2. Apply SAP-provided security patches or updates as soon as they become available; monitor SAP Security Notes and advisories closely. 3. Implement strict input validation and output encoding in custom SAP web applications or extensions to reduce XSS risks. 4. Employ Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with rules tailored to detect and block XSS payloads targeting SAP web interfaces. 5. Restrict user privileges to the minimum necessary, especially for users with access to SAP web interfaces, to limit the potential impact of low-privilege exploitation. 6. Educate users on recognizing suspicious links or inputs that could trigger XSS attacks, reducing the likelihood of successful user interaction exploitation. 7. Monitor SAP system logs and web access logs for unusual activity indicative of attempted XSS exploitation. 8. Consider implementing Content Security Policy (CSP) headers in SAP web applications to mitigate the execution of injected scripts. 9. Conduct regular security assessments and penetration testing focused on SAP web interfaces to identify and remediate similar vulnerabilities proactively.

Description

SAP NetWeaver ABAP Application Server and ABAP Platform do not sufficiently encode user-controlled inputs, resulting in Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability. An attacker with low privileges can cause limited impact to confidentiality of the application data after successful exploitation.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2024-21738 could be significant, especially for enterprises and public sector entities that heavily depend on SAP NetWeaver ABAP Application Server and ABAP Platform for their ERP and business-critical applications. Exploitation of this XSS vulnerability could lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information within the SAP web interface, potentially exposing confidential business data or user credentials. Although the vulnerability requires low privileges and user interaction, the changed scope means that an attacker could leverage this to affect other users or components beyond the initially compromised session. This could facilitate targeted phishing or session hijacking attacks within the corporate environment. The medium severity rating reflects a moderate risk, but the potential for lateral movement or escalation in complex SAP landscapes could amplify the consequences. Additionally, compliance requirements under GDPR impose strict obligations on protecting personal and sensitive data; a breach resulting from this vulnerability could lead to regulatory penalties and reputational damage. The lack of known exploits currently reduces immediate risk, but the widespread deployment of affected SAP versions in Europe means that attackers may develop exploits soon, increasing the urgency for mitigation.

CWE-79Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #1OWASP Top 10 A05:2025: Injection (opens in a new tab)
The product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes user-controllable input before it is placed in output that is used as a web page that is served to other users.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
Implementation · Architecture and Design
Understand the context in which your data will be used and the encoding that will be expected. This is especially important when transmitting data between different components, or when generating outputs that can contain multiple encodings at the same time, such as web pages or multi-part mail messages.
Architecture and Design · Implementation · Attack Surface Reduction
Understand all the potential areas where untrusted inputs can enter your software: parameters or arguments, cookies, anything read from the network, environment variables, reverse DNS lookups, query results, request headers, URL components, e-mail, files, filenames, databases, and any external systems that provide…
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Cross Site Scripting Prevention (opens in a new tab)
DOM based XSS Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Injection Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
Deserialization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V5.3.3 (opens in a new tab)
V1.5.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
XSS Using MIME Type Mismatch (opens in a new tab)
DOM-Based XSS (opens in a new tab)
Reflected XSS (opens in a new tab)
Stored XSS (opens in a new tab)
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 3 Jul 2025, 22:55 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-79

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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