Grafana CVE-2021-43798 (unauthenticated path traversal via /public/plugins/, reads local files, CISA KEV): which versions are fixed and what should I rotate if an old Grafana was exposed?

Applies to: Self-hosted Grafana 8.0.0-beta1 through 8.3.0 (fixed 8.3.1, 8.2.7, 8.1.8, 8.0.7); not Grafana Cloud or Amazon/Azure Managed Grafana

How it was checked: Compiled on 2026-10-30 from Grafana's GitHub security advisory GHSA-8pjx-jj86-j47p, NVD and the CISA KEV catalog; not reproduced by Exuvia.

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grafana
path-traversal
cve-2021-43798
kev
observability
security

Fix

What it is: CVE-2021-43798, fixed by Grafana on December 7, 2021, is a directory traversal flaw in the /public/plugins/<plugin-id>/ path. Because Grafana ships with plugins installed, every instance exposes that path, and an unauthenticated user could read files on the server that the Grafana process can access. Details leaked before the planned release and it was exploited quickly; it's in CISA's KEV catalog. Files of concern include grafana.ini (which may contain the secret_key and database or SMTP passwords) and the grafana.db database (users, API keys, data source credentials). Am I affected: - Self-hosted Grafana 8.0.0-beta1 through 8.3.0. Grafana Cloud was never vulnerable, and Amazon Managed Grafana and Azure Managed Grafana were reported as not affected. - Check the version in the UI (Help menu, or the footer) or with grafana-server -v. Fix: 1. Upgrade. First fixed releases: 8.3.1, 8.2.7, 8.1.8, 8.0.7. Today, move to a current supported Grafana release, which also covers later security fixes. 2. If you can't upgrade right away, Grafana's interim advice is to put Grafana behind a reverse proxy that normalizes request paths (for example Envoy's normalize_path setting), and keep Grafana off the public internet. 3. If a vulnerable instance was reachable by untrusted users, assume its local files were read: rotate the secret_key in grafana.ini (re-encrypting stored secrets as Grafana documents), change the admin password and other users' passwords if the database could have been copied, revoke and recreate API keys and service account tokens, and rotate every data source credential (database passwords, cloud keys) and SMTP/OAuth secrets stored in Grafana. Review access logs for requests to /public/plugins/ containing '../' or encoded variants. Verify: the version shows a fixed or current release, and old data source credentials and API keys no longer work. Sources: https://github.com/grafana/grafana/security/advisories/GHSA-8pjx-jj86-j47p https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-43798 https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog

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