How severe is CVE-2024-28987?

CVE-2024-28987 has a CVSS score of 9.1/10, rated CRITICAL. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which products are affected by CVE-2024-28987?

CVE-2024-28987 affects the following products: solarwinds webhelpdesk.

How do I patch CVE-2024-28987?

No patch has shipped for CVE-2024-28987 yet — track the solarwinds webhelpdesk advisory for a fixed release and apply the workarounds below in the meantime.

How do I detect CVE-2024-28987 across my infrastructure?

Inventory every solarwinds webhelpdesk deployment and check each version against the affected-products list above.

How do I mitigate CVE-2024-28987 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Escape or sanitise the affected output on the server side rather than relying on client-side filtering, and add a Content-Security-Policy that blocks inline script execution so injected markup cannot run even if it reaches the page. Alongside that, restrict the management interface to trusted networks and apply the vendor's recommended configuration mitigations.

Is CVE-2024-28987 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 11 known exploit references for CVE-2024-28987, including 9 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-2024-28987?

CVE-2024-28987 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 93.3%, placing it in the 100th 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-2024-28987 in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. CVE-2024-28987 (SolarWinds Web Help Desk Hardcoded Credential Vulnerability) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2024-10-15. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2024-11-05. The required action was: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. 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-2024-28987?

CVE-2024-28987 is classified as Hard-coded Credentials (CWE-798). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

Which products and versions are affected by CVE-2024-28987?

CVE-2024-28987 affects solarwinds webhelpdesk. Check the affected-products list on this page against your deployed version to confirm exposure.

Is there exploit tooling available for CVE-2024-28987?

A Nuclei detection template exists for CVE-2024-28987, meaning automated scanners can fingerprint it. Public exploit tooling significantly increases real-world risk — prioritize patching and ensure detection coverage. Exploit tooling should only ever be used in isolated, authorized testing environments.

When was CVE-2024-28987 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2024-28987 was published on August 21, 2024 and was last updated on October 21, 2025. 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 · ACTIVELY EXPLOITED

CRITICAL severity

CVE-2024-28987 — Webhelpdesk

CRITICAL

CVE-2024-28987 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.1) Hard-coded Credentials vulnerability in solarwinds webhelpdesk. It is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2024-10-15) — treat it as actively exploited and patch now. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.

The SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD) software is affected by a hardcoded credential vulnerability, allowing remote unauthenticated user to access internal functionality and modify data.

Published

Aug 21, 2024

Updated

Oct 21, 2025

Affected

1 product

Patched

See advisory

Exploits

11 known

Exploitation data as of Oct 21, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

Actively exploited in the wild

Confirmed by CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2024-10-15. Federal agencies were required to remediate by 2024-11-05.
CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.

Exploitation and automatability from CISA (KEV catalog and SSVC triage) for CVE-2024-28987.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

93.3%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Very High Risk+0.09%

Lower risk than most CVEs100th percentile — riskier than 100% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2024-28987 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). In the shaded patch-first corner (EPSS 50%+, CVSS 7.0+).

Where this sits among everything scored

Of 394,803 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the ≥ 90% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.

Description

The SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD) software is affected by a hardcoded credential vulnerability, allowing remote unauthenticated user to access internal functionality and modify data.

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations

Application

webhelpdesksolarwinds

all

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.