Vulnerability report

Active exploitation observed Confirmed confidence Not in CISA KEV

CVE-2021-24212

WooCommerce Help Scout Arbitrary File Access

WooCommerce / WooCommerce Help Scout · affected before 2.9.1

View live feed Monitor via API Watch CVE-2021-24212
Severity
CVSS 9.8 · Critical
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Observed in sensors
EPSS
7.9%
First observed
12 Jun 2026
Last observed
10 Sep 2026

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2021-24212 is an unauthenticated vulnerability affecting WooCommerce WooCommerce Help Scout. The WooCommerce Help Scout WordPress plugin before 2.9.1 (https://woocommerce.com/products/woocommerce-help-scout/)...

Is it exploited?

Yes. Previdian sensors observed exploitation attempts with confirmed confidence. Also confirmed by third-party sources.

Who is affected?

WooCommerce / WooCommerce Help Scout affected before 2.9.1.

What should we do?

Patch immediately, validate internet-facing exposure, and monitor for matching requests.

Overview

WooCommerce Help Scout Arbitrary File Access

The WooCommerce Help Scout WordPress plugin before 2.9.1 (https://woocommerce.com/products/woocommerce-help-scout/) allows unauthenticated users to upload any files to the site which by default will end up in wp-content/uploads/hstmp.

Vendor Product Affected Status
Unknown WooCommerce Help Scout Before 2.9.1 Affected
Published
05 Apr 2021
Exploitation Reported
30 Nov 2025
Attack vector
Remote
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None

Tags

nuclei_scanner wordpress

CVE References

Exploitation evidence

Why Previdian marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

The Shadowserver

Recorded 30 Nov 2025

A trusted third party reported exploitation.

Active exploitation observed

Previdian sensor

First observed 04 Jul 2026

Previdian first observed exploitation attempts targeting this vulnerability in our honeypot sensors.

Proof of concept available

Nuclei Templates

Recorded 12 Jun 2026

Public scanner or PoC coverage increases practical exploitability.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the Previdian Pro API.

Learn about Pro API access
Source Added
The Shadowserver First 2025-11-30 00:00 UTC
Previdian 2026-07-04 12:15 UTC

Operational indicators for this CVE are listed under Detection.

Sensor telemetry

First-party evidence of exploitation activity

Previdian sensors recorded exploitation attempts targeting this vulnerability. The cards and chart show volume, unique attackers, and daily activity.

28

Attempts observed

6

Unique attacker IPs

5

Attacker countries

FI · FR · ID · SC · US

7

Sensors observed

CVE-2021-24212 exploitation attempts over the last 84 days

Daily events observed by Previdian sensors

Updated 11 Sep 2026

0
2
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
13
7
1
0
46
1
0
0
0
3
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
8
0
8
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
2
0
20 Jun 7 Jul 24 Jul 10 Aug 11 Sep

First observed 12 Jun 2026 · Last observed 10 Sep 2026

Pro adds sensor region and window summaries. Enterprise adds raw IPs, paths, User-Agents, and payloads.

Request telemetry access

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
User-Agents
Callback hosts
13
25
0

Request targets and User-Agents available in Pro. Callback host details available in Enterprise.

Virtual patch status

No Previdian virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

Learn about virtual patches →

Attacker IP Indicators

Attacker IP indicators observed · available in Pro and Enterprise.

Sensor-derived attacker IP indicators are available to Pro and Enterprise accounts under Detection and through the Pro API.

Learn about Pro API access

Scanner Artifacts

Scanner and exploit-framework references linked to this CVE.

Scanner Reference Detected
Nuclei https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2021/CVE-2021-24212.yaml 01 Jun 2026

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS

7.9%

Weaknesses

Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type CWE-434

All CVSS Scores

CVSS v3.1 9.8 Critical

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS v2.0 7.5 High

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Potential Proof of Concepts

These PoCs are unverified and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.

WooCommerce Help Scout - Arbitrary File Upload

nuclei · Created Unknown

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. Observed by Previdian sensors

    Evidence-backed exploitation signal

  2. Public PoC available

    Public proof-of-concept code published

  3. Indicators of compromise added (31)

    Indicators of compromise recorded

  4. Nuclei template available

    Scanner coverage available

  5. Added to Previdian KEV Feed

    High-confidence, third-party attested exploitation

  6. CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  7. CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

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  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2021-24212

Free JSON includes basic KEV fields 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2021-24212",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 9.8,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.07908,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": true
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 28, "sensors": 7 }
}