dbcve.org
Joomla\!Application · Joomla

CVE-2012-1562

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-01-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.5.3 or later.
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
Joomla! core before 2.5.3 allows unauthorized password change.

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 confidence

Joomla! core versions before 2.5.3 contain an access control vulnerability that allows unauthorized users to change passwords, likely due to missing or insufficient authentication checks in the password change functionality.

MitigationUpdate Joomla! core to version 2.5.3 or later to patch the unauthorized password change vulnerability. If immediate patching is not possible, restrict access to the affected password change functionality through web server configuration or access controls.

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
Joomla\!Application
Affected:< 2.5.3

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
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

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

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

  1. Identify Joomla core version
    Check the version.php file located in the /includes directory of your Joomla installation, or log into the Joomla admin panel and navigate to Help > System Info > System Information to view the Joomla version.
    Affected if The installed version is anything less than 2.5.3 (e.g., 2.5.2, 2.5.1, 2.5.0, or any 1.x release)
  2. Confirm password change functionality is present
    Verify that user registration and password change features are enabled on the site. In the Joomla admin panel, go to Users > Manage > Options, or check the configuration.php file for the value of $password_change parameter if custom coded.
    Affected if User password change or registration functionality is accessible without authentication (any non-administrator can access the password reset or change mechanism)

You are affected if your Joomla core version is below 2.5.3 and your site has user registration or password change functionality enabled and accessible to unauthenticated users.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2.5.3 or later
Fixed in 2.5.3
Interim mitigation

Update Joomla! core to version 2.5.3 or later to patch the unauthorized password change vulnerability. If immediate patching is not possible, restrict access to the affected password change functionality through web server configuration or access controls.

Fix this in Joomla\! Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-1562 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2012-1562 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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.

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