VulnerabilityPublished 26 Mar 2026

CVE-2026-28297: SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted · Cross-site Scripting

Affects SolarWinds Observability Self-HostedSource CVE Database V5

Compare

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.1 Medium.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 11:52 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.1Medium

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

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 32% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Adjacent
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: High
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: None

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

Attack Vector: Adjacent: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack, but the attack is limited at the protocol level to a logically adjacent topology. This can mean an attack must be launched from the same shared physical (e.g., Bluetooth or IEEE 802.11) or logical (e.g., local IP subnet) network, or from within a secure or otherwise limited administrative domain (e.g., MPLS, secure VPN to an administrative network zone).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: High: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide significant (e.g., administrative) control over the vulnerable component that could affect component-wide settings and files.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to 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 26 Mar 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: 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 30 Oct 2026.

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.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity 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

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
SolarWindsSolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted	Affected =2026.1.1 and previous versions	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2026-28297 effectively, organizations should take the following specific actions: 1) Monitor SolarWinds communications closely for official patches or updates addressing this vulnerability and apply them immediately upon release. 2) Restrict high-privilege access to the SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted platform, ensuring that only trusted administrators have such permissions, and enforce strong authentication mechanisms such as multi-factor authentication (MFA). 3) Implement network segmentation to limit access to the SolarWinds management interface, reducing the attack surface from adjacent networks. 4) Conduct thorough input validation and output encoding on any custom integrations or extensions interacting with the platform to prevent injection of malicious scripts. 5) Regularly audit user activity and logs for unusual behavior indicative of attempted exploitation or privilege misuse. 6) Educate administrators about the risks of stored XSS and the importance of cautious handling of input fields within the platform. 7) If possible, deploy web application firewalls (WAFs) with rules tuned to detect and block XSS payloads targeting the SolarWinds interface. These targeted measures go beyond generic advice by focusing on access control, network restrictions, and proactive monitoring tailored to the vulnerability's characteristics.

Description

SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted was found to be affected by a stored cross-site scripting vulnerability, which when exploited, can lead to unintended script execution.

Impact

The impact of CVE-2026-28297 on organizations worldwide can be substantial, particularly for those relying on SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted for monitoring and managing critical IT infrastructure. Exploitation of this stored XSS vulnerability could allow attackers with high privileges to execute arbitrary scripts within the context of other users, potentially leading to unauthorized access to sensitive monitoring data, manipulation of system configurations, or further lateral movement within the network. This compromises the confidentiality and integrity of the monitored data and the management platform. Given the product's role in observability, any compromise could degrade an organization's ability to detect and respond to other security incidents, increasing overall risk. Although exploitation requires authenticated high-privilege access and network proximity, insider threats or attackers who have already gained partial access could leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges or expand their foothold. The absence of known exploits in the wild reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the threat, especially as attackers often develop exploits after public disclosure. Organizations using affected versions should consider the vulnerability a medium risk but address it promptly to avoid potential data breaches or operational disruptions.

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

Community reviews

Loading reviews…

Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 26 Mar 2026, 18:31 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-79

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats