CVE-2008-0701
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 · uneditedActivationHandler in Magnolia CE 3.5.x before 3.5.4 does not check permissions during importing, which allows remote attackers to have an unknown impact via activation of a new item, possibly involving addition of arbitrary new content.
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 · moderate confidenceActivationHandler in Magnolia CMS Community Edition 3.5.x before version 3.5.4 fails to perform permission checks during content importing and activation operations. This authorization flaw allows unauthenticated or unauthorized remote attackers to trigger activation of new content items, potentially enabling injection of arbitrary content into the CMS.
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= 3.5.1= 3.5.2= 3.5.3CVSS 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
- Partial
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N
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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Identify Magnolia CMS installationLocate Magnolia CMS by searching for magnolia*.jar files in the application directory, or check running Java processes for 'magnolia' in the command line arguments. Common installation paths include /opt/magnolia, /var/lib/magnolia, or within application server directories like Tomcat's webapps folder.Affected if Magnolia CMS Community Edition is found running in the environment
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Determine Magnolia CMS versionCheck the magnolia-version.properties file typically located in the WEB-INF/lib directory of the deployed Magnolia application, or access the Magnolia Admin Central and view the 'Version' information under 'About Magnolia'. The file may also be in the lib/magnolia-core*.jar META-INF directory.Affected if The installed version is 3.5.1, 3.5.2, or 3.5.3
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Verify ActivationHandler module presenceExamine the web.xml deployment descriptor (WEB-INF/web.xml) for the ActivationHandler servlet or filter configuration. Look for servlet mappings related to activation, typically under URL patterns like /activation/* or servlets named ActivationServlet.Affected if The ActivationHandler servlet is mapped and accessible in the web.xml configuration
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Check activation endpoint accessibilityAttempt a HEAD or GET request to the activation endpoint (commonly /magnoliaPublic/activation or similar paths depending on configuration). Check if the server responds without requiring authentication. Review server access logs for unauthenticated access attempts to activation-related URLs.Affected if The activation endpoint responds without requiring authentication or valid session credentials
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Review ActivationHandler configurationInspect the Magnolia configuration files (typically in WEB-INF/config or /server/config) for the ActivationHandler bean definition. Check the magnolia-authorization.properties or similar security configuration files to verify if permission checks are enabled for the activation module.Affected if The ActivationHandler configuration lacks permission validation rules or has security checks disabled
A user is affected if Magnolia CMS Community Edition versions 3.5.1, 3.5.2, or 3.5.3 are installed AND the ActivationHandler module is accessible without authentication.
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 Magnolia CE to version 3.5.4 or later, which includes proper permission validation in the ActivationHandler. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, review and restrict access to activation endpoints at the application or network layer.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-0701 — 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-2008-0701 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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- 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
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