CVE-2011-0908
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 · uneditedOpen redirect vulnerability in Vanilla Forums before 2.0.17.6 allows remote attackers to redirect users to arbitrary web sites and conduct phishing attacks via a URL in the Target parameter to an unspecified component, a different vulnerability than CVE-2011-0526.
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 confidenceOpen redirect vulnerability in Vanilla Forums before version 2.0.17.6 allows remote attackers to redirect authenticated users to arbitrary external websites via the Target parameter in an unspecified component. This enables phishing attacks where users are tricked into visiting malicious sites while believing they are still on the legitimate forum.
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<= 2.0.17.5= 2.0.9= 2.0.10= 2.0.11= 2.0.12= 2.0.13= 2.0.14= 2.0.15= 2.0.16= 2.0.17= 2.0.17.1= 2.0.17.2CVSS 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
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/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.
-
Identify installed Vanilla Forums versionAccess the Vanilla Forums administration dashboard and navigate to the About or Dashboard section to view the version number. Alternatively, check the version file in the application root directory if accessible.Affected if The installed version is 2.0.17.5 or earlier, or matches any of these: 2.0.9, 2.0.10, 2.0.11, 2.0.12, 2.0.13, 2.0.14, 2.0.15, 2.0.16, 2.0.17, 2.0.17.1, or 2.0.17.2
-
Locate the redirect componentIdentify which component in the application handles URL redirection via the Target parameter. Review application routing configuration and look for endpoints that accept a Target parameter for redirection.Affected if The application contains a component that processes the Target parameter for redirects and the version is within the affected range
-
Test for open redirect vulnerabilityWith an authenticated user session, send a request to the vulnerable component with a Target parameter pointing to an external domain (for example, Target=http://malicious-site.com). Observe whether the application redirects to the external URL without validation.Affected if The application redirects to the external URL specified in the Target parameter without validating that it is an internal URL
You are affected if your Vanilla Forums installation is version 2.0.17.5 or earlier (including 2.0.9 through 2.0.17.2) and the Target parameter in the redirect functionality allows external URLs.
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 to Vanilla Forums version 2.0.17.6 or later, which contains the patch for this vulnerability. Additionally, implement strict URL validation to ensure redirect targets are restricted to internal URLs only.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2011-0908 — 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-2011-0908 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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