⚠ Reference material — not professional advice. Test in staging, back up first, verify against your specific version. Use your own judgment for your environment.
● Critical · CVSS 9.1 ⚠ ACTIVELY EXPLOITED — CISA KEV

How to Fix CVE-2024-28987: Hard-coded Credentials in Web Help Desk

Other vulnerabilities in the same area that are worth patching alongside this one:

*By Sai Kiran Pandrala*

⚡ At a glance
SeverityCVSS 9.1 - Critical
Actively exploited?Yes, listed in CISA KEV (added 2024-10-15)
Affected12.8.3 Hotfix 1 and previous versions
Fixed inSee vendor advisory
Type (CWE)CWE-798: Use of Hard-coded Credentials
Patch immediately. CISA's KEV listing means active exploitation is confirmed. Federal agencies must remediate by 2024-11-05.

What is CVE-2024-28987?

CVE-2024-28987 is a hard-coded credentials issue in Web Help Desk. The product ships with a built-in account or key that anyone with a copy of the software can recover and use to log in. Vendor description: The SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD) software is affected by a hardcoded credential vulnerability, allowing remote unauthenticated user to access internal functionality and modify data.

Why this CVE matters

Hard-coded credentials are the lowest-effort path to compromise. Once the secret is reverse-engineered out of the firmware or source, every deployment of the same version is reachable by anyone with the advisory text.

For deployments of Web Help Desk that have been exposed to the public internet during the disclosure window, the operating assumption should be that scanning has already happened. Confirmed in-the-wild exploitation makes that assumption mandatory, not cautious. Patching closes the door; log review and credential rotation close out the rest of the response.

Am I affected?

You are affected if your installation matches any of these version ranges:

Check your installed version against the list above. If you cannot determine the version, treat the system as affected and follow the upgrade path below.

Open the SolarWinds product's About page in the web UI for the installed version, or check the registry / install metadata on the host.

How to fix CVE-2024-28987

  1. Read the vendor advisory in full: https://www.solarwinds.com/trust-center/security-advisories/cve-2024-28987
  2. Upgrade Web Help Desk to the patched build listed in the vendor advisory.
  3. Back up the configuration (and database, where applicable) before upgrading.
  4. Apply the patch in a maintenance window. For HA pairs, upgrade the standby node first, fail over, then upgrade the former primary.
  5. Restart the affected service so the patched binary loads, then verify the new version (see verification section).

Patch via your OS package manager


# The exact package name and patched version are listed in the vendor advisory:
# https://www.solarwinds.com/trust-center/security-advisories/cve-2024-28987
# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt update
sudo apt install --only-upgrade webhelpdesk

# RHEL / Rocky / AlmaLinux / Fedora
sudo dnf upgrade webhelpdesk

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update webhelpdesk

# Verify the running version matches the fixed version
dpkg -s webhelpdesk 2>/dev/null | grep -i version || rpm -q webhelpdesk 2>/dev/null


# Windows: pull the cumulative update that ships this fix.
Install-Module PSWindowsUpdate -Force -SkipPublisherCheck
Get-WindowsUpdate -AcceptAll -Install -AutoReboot

Verify the fix landed


# 1. Confirm the running version matches the fixed-in version from the advisory:
#    https://www.solarwinds.com/trust-center/security-advisories/cve-2024-28987
#    Use the platform-specific version probe above.

# 2. Re-scan with your vulnerability scanner (Nessus, Qualys, Tenable, OpenVAS).
#    The scanner should no longer flag CVE-2024-28987 on the patched target.

# 3. Inspect recent service / kernel logs for crash loops or rollback events.
journalctl -u <service> --since "10 minutes ago"
dmesg --since "10 minutes ago"

If you cannot patch immediately

No official workaround exists beyond restricting network exposure to the affected component. Apply the vendor patch as the primary remediation.

How to verify the fix worked

If your installation was internet-reachable during the disclosure window, treat log review as part of the remediation rather than an optional follow-up. Look for unexpected administrator accounts in Web Help Desk, scheduled tasks or cron jobs you did not create, new files in web-accessible directories, and outbound connections to addresses not in your baseline. Suspicious requests to the vulnerable endpoint immediately followed by successful 200-class responses with unusually large bodies are a strong indicator of exploitation. Because Web Help Desk sits on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog for this CVE, defenders should also pull the IOC list from the vendor advisory and from CISA's analysis if one was published.

Frequently asked questions

Is CVE-2024-28987 being exploited in the wild?

Yes. CISA added CVE-2024-28987 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which means active exploitation has been confirmed by federal observation or credible vendor reporting.

Will a WAF or IDS rule fully mitigate CVE-2024-28987?

No. Network-layer filters can reduce noise and slow opportunistic scanners, but they will not stop a determined attacker. The vendor patch is the only durable fix.

How long should I plan for the upgrade?

Typical vendor-documented upgrade windows for Web Help Desk run from a few minutes to under an hour depending on cluster size. Test in a staging environment first and follow the vendor's documented HA upgrade order.

References

*This guide was assembled from the official vendor advisory, the NVD record, and the CISA KEV catalog entry on 2026-05-25. Always confirm against the vendor advisory before applying changes in production.*