Simple Machines ForumApplication · Simple Machines

CVE-2007-3309

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2007-06-21
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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
Unspecified vulnerability in Simple Machines Forum (SMF) 1.1.2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary PHP code during (1) creation or (2) editing of a message.

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

Simple Machines Forum (SMF) 1.1.2 contains a code injection vulnerability allowing remote attackers to execute arbitrary PHP code through the message creation or editing functions. This is a critical RCE vulnerability where unsanitized user input in forum posts is parsed as PHP code.

MitigationUpgrade SMF to the latest stable version (1.1.x series has received many security updates since 1.1.2). If immediate patching is not possible, consider disabling new user registrations and monitoring access logs for suspicious activity.

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
Simple Machines ForumApplication
Affected:= 1.1.2

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
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/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 checks

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

  1. Confirm SMF installation
    Look for SMF-specific files (index.php, SSI.php, Settings.php) in the web directory, or check HTTP headers/cookies for SMF identifiers.
    Affected if SMF is installed on the server
  2. Identify SMF version
    Check the version file (typically in /Sources or displayed in Admin > Support > Credits), or inspect the footer of forum pages for the version number.
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 1.1.2
  3. Verify posting functionality is enabled
    Check the forum permissions in Admin > Permissions > General Permissions to ensure members or guests can create or edit posts.
    Affected if Post creation or editing is permitted for any user group
  4. Check for PHP evaluation in posts
    Examine the post parsing logic in Sources/Subs-Post.php or similar files for unsafe eval() or create_function() usage on user-submitted content.
    Affected if The code processes post content through PHP evaluation functions without sanitization

The environment is affected if Simple Machines Forum version 1.1.2 is installed and the posting/editing feature is enabled, allowing unsanitized user input to be parsed as PHP code.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade SMF to the latest stable version (1.1.x series has received many security updates since 1.1.2). If immediate patching is not possible, consider disabling new user registrations and monitoring access logs for suspicious activity.

Fix this in Simple Machines Forum Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2007-3309 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2007-3309 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