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SolarWinds issued patches for two critical vulnerabilities in its Orion Platform: CVE-2021-25274, which could let an unauthenticated remote attacker execute code through the Orion Collector’s message queues, and CVE-2021-25275, which exposed Orion database credentials to a locally authenticated user. CERT-EU’s February 4, 2021 advisory recommends Orion Platform 2020.2.4. These flaws are separate from SUNBURST, though organizations with historically affected Orion builds may also need incident-response steps.

What the two Orion vulnerabilities do

CERT-EU’s Security Advisory 2021-008, published February 4, 2021, describes three critical vulnerabilities across SolarWinds products. Two affect Orion:

CVE Affected component and access Potential impact
CVE-2021-25274 Orion Collector MSMQ private queues; remotely reachable over TCP port 1801 without authentication Insecure deserialization could allow arbitrary code execution.
CVE-2021-25275 Orion database credentials in the SOLARWINDS_ORION configuration file; requires a locally authenticated user The user could read and decrypt credentials, access the Microsoft SQL Server, take control of the Orion database, steal information, or add admin-level users.

CVE-2021-25274: remote code execution through MSMQ

The Orion Collector used Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ) private queues that were accessible without authentication. CERT-EU identifies TCP port 1801 as the relevant port. A remote attacker able to reach the service could exploit insecure deserialization to execute arbitrary code. SolarWinds’ fix added digital-signature validation for incoming messages.

CVE-2021-25275: exposed database credentials

The Orion backend database credentials were not sufficiently protected in the SOLARWINDS_ORION configuration file. A locally authenticated user could recover and decrypt them. With those credentials, an attacker could access the SQL Server and compromise the Orion database, including by stealing data or adding users with administrator-level access.

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The third advisory issue is in Serv-U, not Orion

CVE-2021-25276 affects SolarWinds Serv-U FTP Server, a separate product. CERT-EU says an authenticated user could access account files and, because the service ran with LocalSystem permissions, create an administrator account and read or replace files. It belongs to the same advisory, but it is not one of the two Orion vulnerabilities.

Which versions are vulnerable, and what patch is named?

CERT-EU identifies Orion Platform 2020.2.4 as the recommended Orion remediation and Serv-U FTP 15.2.2 Hotfix 1 for the separate Serv-U issue. The advisory establishes those remediation releases, but does not provide a complete affected-version matrix for the two Orion CVEs. Administrators should check their installed Orion version and applied hotfixes against SolarWinds’ Security Advisory FAQ and the applicable vendor guidance rather than infer that a version not named here is unaffected.

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Orion 2020.2.4 is the patch recommendation in the February 2021 CERT-EU advisory; it should not be confused with the separate upgrade or rebuild guidance SolarWinds gives for systems that may have run SUNBURST-affected builds.

Are these vulnerabilities the same as SUNBURST?

No. CERT-EU says the three vulnerabilities in its advisory are separate from the earlier SUNBURST attack. The vulnerabilities discussed here concern weaknesses in Orion’s Collector message handling and protection of database credentials.

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SolarWinds’ FAQ describes SUNBURST as malicious code inserted into Orion builds 2019.4 HF 5, 2020.2 unpatched, and 2020.2 HF 1. It says the relevant updates were released between March and June 2020. That is a distinct compromise history: applying the 2021 fix for CVE-2021-25274 or CVE-2021-25275 does not, by itself, establish that a server previously exposed to SUNBURST is clean.

Should you patch, upgrade, or rebuild?

If you are addressing the 2021 vulnerabilities

  1. Identify the installed Orion Platform version and all applied hotfixes.
  2. Use SolarWinds’ Security Advisory FAQ and applicable vendor instructions to determine the correct upgrade path for that installation.
  3. Apply the advised Orion remediation; CERT-EU names Orion Platform 2020.2.4 for these Orion issues. If you also operate Serv-U FTP Server, address CVE-2021-25276 separately using the named 15.2.2 Hotfix 1 remediation.

If the server ran a SUNBURST-affected build

Follow SolarWinds’ additional security guidance rather than treating the 2021 Orion patch as a complete incident response. Its FAQ recommends upgrading to 2020.2.5 or 2019.4.2 in the documented scenarios; some cases require rebuilding the Orion server or virtual machine on a fresh machine. Which path applies depends on the installation and its history, so use the FAQ’s scenario-specific instructions.

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How to check for possible compromise

A version check can show whether a system needs an update, but it cannot determine whether an attacker previously accessed it. If compromise is suspected, SolarWinds recommends forensic imaging and analysis of network traffic. Preserve relevant evidence and use the vendor’s incident-response guidance to assess whether the server needs rebuilding, rather than relying on patch status alone.

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