CVE-2021-44981

Severity: high (CVSS 8.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 3.7% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2022-01-24 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-78

Description

In QuickBox Pro v2.5.8 and below, the config.php file has a variable which takes a GET parameter value and parses it into a shell_exec(''); function without properly sanitizing any shell arguments, therefore remote code execution is possible. Additionally, as the media server is running as root by default attackers can use the sudo command within this shell_exec(''); function, which allows for privilege escalation by means of RCE.

Affected products

Quickbox: through 2.5.8

References

https://github.com/QuickBox/QB/issues/202
https://websec.nl/blog/61b2b37a43a1155c848f3b08/websec%20finds%20critical%20vulnerabilities%20in%20popular%20media%20server
https://github.com/QuickBox/QB/issues/202
https://websec.nl/blog/61b2b37a43a1155c848f3b08/websec%20finds%20critical%20vulnerabilities%20in%20popular%20media%20server

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