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Ez PublishApplication · Ez

CVE-2005-4853

HIGH · 9.4 CVSS v2.0 Published 2005-12-31
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The default configuration of the forum package in eZ publish 3.5 before 3.5.5, 3.6 before 3.6.2, 3.7 before 3.7.0rc2, and 3.8 before 20050818 does not restrict edit permissions to a posting's owner, which allows remote authenticated users to edit arbitrary postings.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

eZ publish versions 3.5-3.8 contain a broken access control vulnerability in the forum package where the default configuration fails to enforce owner-only edit permissions, allowing any authenticated user to modify arbitrary forum postings.

MitigationApply vendor patches (3.5.5, 3.6.2, 3.7.0rc2, or post-20050818) or manually restrict forum posting edit permissions to owner-only in the access control configuration.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Ez PublishApplication
Affected:= 3.5.0= 3.5.1= 3.5.2= 3.5.3= 3.5.4

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the installed eZ Publish version
    Check your eZ Publish installation directory for a version file or check the kernel/version.php file. Common locations include 'kernel/version.php' or the main index.php which often displays version information.
    Affected if The installed version is 3.5.0, 3.5.1, 3.5.2, 3.5.3, or 3.5.4 (within the 3.5-3.8 range mentioned)
  2. Verify the forum package is installed
    Check if the forum module/package is present in your eZ Publish installation. Look for a 'ezforum' or 'forum' directory under the 'extension' or 'modules' folder, or check the module list in the eZ Publish administration interface.
    Affected if The forum package is installed and enabled on the system
  3. Inspect forum posting edit permissions configuration
    Access the eZ Publish access control or role configuration through the admin interface or by examining the ini configuration files related to the forum module. Look for settings that control who can edit forum postings.
    Affected if The edit permission configuration allows any authenticated user to edit arbitrary forum postings, rather than restricting edits to the post owner only
  4. Confirm the default configuration is in use
    Review the forum module's permission settings in site.ini or forum.ini. Check if the default access policy grants 'edit' permission to the 'RegisteredUser' or 'User' role without restricting it to the content owner.
    Affected if The default configuration remains unchanged and does not explicitly restrict forum post editing to the owner only

You are affected if you are running eZ Publish 3.5.0 through 3.5.4 with the forum package installed and the default access control configuration that permits any authenticated user to edit forum postings.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply vendor patches (3.5.5, 3.6.2, 3.7.0rc2, or post-20050818) or manually restrict forum posting edit permissions to owner-only in the access control configuration.

Recommended fix High confidence

eZ Publish 3.5.5 or later (recommended: latest stable 3.x release)

  1. Download eZ Publish 3.5.5 or a later stable release (such as 3.6.2, 3.7.0rc2, or the latest 3.8 version) from the official eZ Systems repository
  2. Back up the existing database and all configuration files before proceeding
  3. Replace the existing eZ Publish installation files with the new version files
  4. Run the update script or database migration steps included in the new release
  5. Verify that the forum package has been updated and test that edit permissions are now correctly restricted to the posting owner
Caveat Major version upgrades may include template and extension changes; test thoroughly in a non-production environment before deploying

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Ez Publish Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,980
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2005-4853 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data