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Vulnerability record · CVE-2021-41171 · published 22 October 2021

CVE-2021-41171: Elabftw improper restriction of authentication attempts vulnerability

Elabftw · Elabftw

eLabFTW is an open source electronic lab notebook manager for research teams. In versions of eLabFTW before 4.1.0, it allows attackers to bypass a brute-force protection mechanism by using many different forged PHPSESSID values in HTTP Cookie header. This issue has been addressed by implementing brute force login protection, as recommended by Owasp with Device Cookies. This mechanism will not impact users and will effectively thwart any brute-force attempts at guessing passwords. The only correct way to address this is to upgrade to version 4.1.0. Adding rate limitation upstream of the eLabFTW service is of course a valid option, with or without upgrading.

8.8 CVSS 3.1 High EPSS 1.9% · top 20.6% CWE-307 · Improper restriction of authentication attempts
8.8CVSS 3.1 base score, v2 4.0
1.9%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
1Affected product versions listed by NVD
10References, 2 tagged exploit
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

eLabFTW is an open source electronic lab notebook manager for research teams. In versions of eLabFTW before 4.1.0, it allows attackers to bypass a brute-force protection mechanism by using many different forged PHPSESSID values in HTTP Cookie header. This issue has been addressed by implementing brute force login protection, as recommended by Owasp with Device Cookies. This mechanism will not impact users and will effectively thwart any brute-force attempts at guessing passwords. The only correct way to address this is to upgrade to version 4.1.0. Adding rate limitation upstream of the eLabFTW service is of course a valid option, with or without upgrading.

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

Affected products

1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
https://github.com/elabftw/elabftw/commit/8e92afeec4c3a68dc88333881b7e6307f425706b PatchThird Party Advisory
https://github.com/elabftw/elabftw/releases/tag/4.1.0 Release NotesThird Party Advisory
https://github.com/elabftw/elabftw/security/advisories/GHSA-q67h-5pc3-g6jv Third Party Advisory
https://owasp.org/www-community/Slow_Down_Online_Guessing_Attacks_with_Device_Cookies Third Party Advisory
https://www.exploit-db.com/docs/50436 ExploitThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
https://github.com/elabftw/elabftw/commit/8e92afeec4c3a68dc88333881b7e6307f425706b PatchThird Party Advisory
https://github.com/elabftw/elabftw/releases/tag/4.1.0 Release NotesThird Party Advisory
https://github.com/elabftw/elabftw/security/advisories/GHSA-q67h-5pc3-g6jv Third Party Advisory
https://owasp.org/www-community/Slow_Down_Online_Guessing_Attacks_with_Device_Cookies Third Party Advisory
https://www.exploit-db.com/docs/50436 ExploitThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry

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Related vulnerabilities

Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.

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Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2021-41171), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-27). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.