Detect SolarWinds Web Help Desk Security Control Bypass (CVE-2025-40536) in Elastic Security
Detects exploitation of CVE-2025-40536, a security control bypass vulnerability (CWE-693) in SolarWinds Web Help Desk. This vulnerability is actively exploited in the wild (CISA KEV) and allows attackers to bypass authentication or authorization controls within the Web Help Desk application. Successful exploitation may enable unauthorized access to ticketing data, credential stores, or administrative functions.
MITRE ATT&CK
Elastic Detection Query
sequence by source.ip with maxspan=5m
[network where destination.port in (8080, 8443, 443, 80) and
url.path : ("/helpdesk/*", "/WebHelpDesk/*", "/whd/*") and
http.request.method in ("PUT", "DELETE", "PATCH") and
http.response.status_code in (200, 201, 204)]
[network where destination.port in (8080, 8443, 443, 80) and
url.path : ("/helpdesk/*", "/WebHelpDesk/*", "/whd/*") and
(url.query : ("*bypass*", "*admin*", "*../*", "*%2e%2e*") or
url.path : ("*/admin/*", "*/setup/*", "*/config/*", "*/security/*"))]EQL sequence rule detecting a pattern of suspicious HTTP interactions with SolarWinds Web Help Desk endpoints — an unusual HTTP method followed by access to sensitive paths, potentially indicating security control bypass exploitation.
Data Sources
Required Tables
False Positives & Tuning
- Authorized REST API integrations using PUT or PATCH methods against WHD endpoints
- Internal monitoring systems that perform non-standard HTTP interactions
- Legitimate administrative workflows that access config or setup endpoints
- Development or staging environments with relaxed access controls
Other platforms for CVE-2025-40536
Testing Methodology
Validate this detection against 3 adversary techniques from Atomic Red Team. Each test below lists the behaviour to exercise and the telemetry you should expect to see. Executable commands and cleanup steps are available with Pro.
- Test 1Unauthenticated Access to WHD Admin Endpoint
Expected signal: HTTP request to WHD ticket creation endpoint without session cookie; response code 200 or redirect to a normally-protected resource instead of 401/403
- Test 2HTTP Method Bypass Probe Against WHD API
Expected signal: HTTP PUT request to WHD REST API ticket endpoint without valid session; response code 200 or 204 indicating the operation succeeded without authentication
- Test 3Path Traversal Bypass Attempt on WHD Configuration Endpoint
Expected signal: HTTP GET request containing path traversal sequence /../ targeting WHD admin path; 200 response code indicating bypass of path-level access control
References (4)
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