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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2011-1028

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-11-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.0.7 or later.
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 $smarty.template variable in Smarty3 allows attackers to possibly execute arbitrary PHP code via the sysplugins/smarty_internal_compile_private_special_variable.php file.

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

Smarty3 template engine contains a vulnerability in the sysplugins/smarty_internal_compile_private_special_variable.php file where the $smarty.template variable can be manipulated to possibly execute arbitrary PHP code. This is a code injection vulnerability in the template compilation process.

MitigationUpdate Smarty3 to the latest patched version. If immediate updating is not feasible, audit all template files for usage of the $smarty.template variable and implement strict input validation or disable template compilation in production environments.

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0= 9.0= 10.0
SmartyApplication
Affected:>= 3.0.0, < 3.0.7

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
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 Smarty version in use
    Locate the Smarty library in your application (check vendor/smarty or similar directories) and read the version from the main Smarty.class.php file or composer.json
    Affected if The installed Smarty version is 3.0.0 through 3.0.6 (less than 3.0.7)
  2. Check if vulnerable sysplugins file exists
    Verify the presence of the file sysplugins/smarty_internal_compile_private_special_variable.php in your Smarty installation directory
    Affected if The file exists and Smarty version is in the affected range
  3. Confirm template compilation is enabled
    Inspect your Smarty configuration (typically in a config file or bootstrap code) for the $compile checkconfig setting or look for setCompileCheck() method calls with default values
    Affected if Template compilation is enabled (the default setting allows template processing that could trigger the vulnerability)
  4. Audit templates for $smarty.template usage
    Search your application templates (tpl files) for occurrences of {$smarty.template} or {$smarty.template_object} using grep or similar tools
    Affected if Templates contain direct usage of $smarty.template variable in user-controlled contexts

You are affected if Smarty version 3.0.0-3.0.6 is installed, the vulnerable sysplugins file exists, template compilation is enabled, and templates utilize the $smarty.template variable that could be manipulated.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 3.0.7 or later
Fixed in 3.0.7
Interim mitigation

Update Smarty3 to the latest patched version. If immediate updating is not feasible, audit all template files for usage of the $smarty.template variable and implement strict input validation or disable template compilation in production environments.

Recommended fix High confidence

Smarty 3.0.7 or later

  1. 1. Identify all applications and systems using Smarty template engine version 3.0.0 through 3.0.6
  2. 2. Backup all application files and databases before making changes
  3. 3. Upgrade Smarty to version 3.0.7 or later using your package manager (e.g., composer for PHP projects: 'composer require smarty/smarty:^3.0.7')
  4. 4. For Debian systems, apply security updates via: apt-get update && apt-get upgrade smarty (or full system upgrade)
  5. 5. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the Smarty version in your application
  6. 6. Test all template-based functionality to ensure normal operation
  7. 7. Review application logs for any errors after the upgrade
Caveat Minor: Template syntax changes between 3.0.0-3.0.6 and 3.0.7+ may require testing; review Smarty changelog for any deprecated features

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

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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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-2011-1028 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