CVE-2006-5203
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 · uneditedInvision Power Board (IPB) 2.1.7 and earlier allows remote restricted administrators to inject arbitrary web script or HTML, or execute arbitrary SQL commands, via a forum description that contains a crafted image with PHP code, which is executed when the user visits the "Manage Forums" link in the Admin control panel.
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 confidenceStored code injection vulnerability in Invision Power Board 2.1.7 and earlier allows authenticated restricted administrators to embed malicious PHP code within a crafted image uploaded as part of a forum description. When other administrators access the 'Manage Forums' page in the Admin Control Panel, the embedded PHP code executes, enabling arbitrary code execution and potential full system compromise. The vulnerability also permits SQL injection via the same vector.
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<= 2.1.7= 1.0= 1.0.1= 1.0.3= 1.1.1= 1.1.2= 1.2= 1.3= 1.3.1_final= 1.3_final= 2.0= 2.0.0CVSS 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
- High
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm Invision Power Board installationLocate the IPB installation directory and check for typical IPB files such as 'init.php' or 'conf_global.php'. Look for the software name in page footers or admin login pages.Affected if Invision Power Board software is present on the system
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Identify installed IPB versionCheck the version string in the admin control panel footer, in a 'version' file within the installation directory, or in the 'conf_global.php' configuration file.Affected if The installed version is 2.1.7 or earlier, or matches any of these: 1.0, 1.0.1, 1.0.3, 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.2, 1.3, 1.3.1_final, 1.3_final, 2.0, or 2.0.0
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Verify admin access to Manage ForumsLog into the Admin Control Panel and navigate to the 'Manage Forums' section under the 'Forums' menu. Confirm that restricted administrator accounts can access this area.Affected if The Manage Forums interface is accessible to authenticated administrators
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Check forum description upload capabilityIn the Manage Forums section, examine whether the forum description field accepts file uploads or image attachments as part of the description input.Affected if The forum description field accepts file or image uploads without sufficient sanitization
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Inspect image upload handlingReview the file upload mechanism for forum descriptions. Check if uploaded files are validated for file type and content, or if they are stored in a web-accessible directory without proper validation.Affected if Uploaded files in forum descriptions are not validated for content type and are stored in a web-accessible location
A system is affected if it runs any version of Invision Power Board listed as vulnerable and allows authenticated administrators to upload arbitrary files via the forum description field in the Manage Forums section.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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.
From vendor dataUpgrade Invision Power Board to a patched version beyond 2.1.7, or apply vendor-supplied patches. If upgrading is not feasible, implement strict input validation and sanitization on forum description fields, and restrict admin panel access to trusted personnel only.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2006-5203 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2006-5203 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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