Grafana is an open-source platform for monitoring and observability. In affected versions an attacker could serve HTML content thru the Grafana datasource or plugin proxy and trick a user to visit this HTML page using a specially crafted link and execute a Cross-site Scripting (XSS) attack. The attacker could either compromise an existing datasource for a specific Grafana instance or either set up its own public service and instruct anyone to set it up in their Grafana instance. To be impacted, all of the following must be applicable. For the data source proxy: A Grafana HTTP-based datasource configured with Server as Access Mode and a URL set, the attacker has to be in control of the HTTP server serving the URL of above datasource, and a specially crafted link pointing at the attacker controlled data source must be clicked on by an authenticated user. For the plugin proxy: A Grafana HTTP-based app plugin configured and enabled with a URL set, the attacker has to be in control of the HTTP server serving the URL of above app, and a specially crafted link pointing at the attacker controlled plugin must be clocked on by an authenticated user. For the backend plugin resource: An attacker must be able to navigate an authenticated user to a compromised plugin through a crafted link. Users are advised to update to a patched version. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
| Software | From | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| grafana / grafana | 8.0.0 | 8.3.5 |
| grafana / grafana | 2.0.0-beta1 | 2.0.0-beta1.x |
| grafana / grafana | 2.0.0-beta3 | 2.0.0-beta3.x |
| grafana / grafana | 2.0.1 | 7.5.15 |
| netapp / e-series_performance_analyzer | - | 3.0 |
| fedoraproject / fedora | 34 | 34.x |
| fedoraproject / fedora | 35 | 35.x |
| fedoraproject / fedora | 36 | 36.x |
github.com/grafana/grafana
|
2.0.0-beta1 | 7.5.15 |
github.com/grafana/grafana
|
8.0.0 | 8.3.5 |
A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.
CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.
A vulnerability is the underlying weakness. An exploit is the method or code used to take advantage of it. A zero-day is a vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or has no publicly available fix when attackers begin using it. In practice, risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.
Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.
Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.
SynScan combines attack surface monitoring and continuous security auditing to keep your inventory current, flag high-impact vulnerabilities early, and help you turn raw findings into a practical remediation plan.