How severe is CVE-2021-38163?

CVE-2021-38163 has a CVSS score of 9.9/10, rated CRITICAL. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2021-38163?

Affected package information for CVE-2021-38163 is not yet fully mapped. Check the official advisory links for details.

How do I fix CVE-2021-38163?

No fixed version has been published for CVE-2021-38163 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates, apply mitigations recommended by the vendor, and use O3 Security to track when a fix becomes available in your stack.

Is CVE-2021-38163 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 3 known exploit references for CVE-2021-38163, including 2 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2021-38163?

CVE-2021-38163 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 83.5%, placing it in the 99th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A score above 50% indicates significantly elevated exploitation risk — immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Is CVE-2021-38163 in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. CVE-2021-38163 (SAP NetWeaver Unrestricted File Upload Vulnerability) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2022-06-09. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2022-06-30. The required action was: Apply updates per vendor instructions. Being listed in the KEV catalog is the strongest possible confirmation of active exploitation — treat this as a critical priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2021-38163?

CVE-2021-38163 is classified as Path Traversal (CWE-22). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

Which products and versions are affected by CVE-2021-38163?

CVE-2021-38163 affects sap netweaver (4 versions, e.g. 7.30, 7.31, 7.40…). Check the affected-products list on this page against your deployed version to confirm exposure.

When was CVE-2021-38163 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2021-38163 was published on September 14, 2021 and was last updated on February 25, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

CISA KEV·Added 2022-06-09 — agencies required to remediate by 2022-06-30

CVE-2021-38163

CRITICAL

SAP NetWeaver (Visual Composer 7.0 RT) versions - 7.30, 7.31, 7.40, 7.50, without restriction, an attacker authenticated as a non-administrative user can upload a malicious file over…

Published

Sep 14, 2021

Updated

Feb 25, 2026

Affected

0 pkgs

Patched

None yet

Exploits

3 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

83.5%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Very High Risk99th percentile-0.51%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

Description

SAP NetWeaver (Visual Composer 7.0 RT) versions - 7.30, 7.31, 7.40, 7.50, without restriction, an attacker authenticated as a non-administrative user can upload a malicious file over a network and trigger its processing, which is capable of running operating system commands with the privilege of the Java Server process. These commands can be used to read or modify any information on the server or shut the server down making it unavailable.

Affected Products

1 product · 4 configurations

Application

netweaversap

4 versions

7.307.317.407.50

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

SAP NetWeaver (Visual Composer 7.0 RT) versions - 7.30, 7.31, 7.40, 7.50…

cisa.govCISAJun 2022

SAP NetWeaver (Visual Composer 7.0 RT) versions - 7.30, 7.31, 7.40, 7.50…

github.comGithubSep 2022

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2021-38163 in your stack?

O3 detects CVE-2021-38163 across dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

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