Joomla\!Application · Joomla
CVE-2012-2748
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 · uneditedUnspecified vulnerability in Joomla! 2.5.x before 2.5.5 allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information via vectors related to "Inadequate filtering" and a "SQL error."
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 confidenceThis is an information disclosure vulnerability in Joomla! CMS 2.5.x prior to version 2.5.5. The flaw involves inadequate input filtering that causes SQL errors to expose sensitive information to remote attackers. The vulnerability is exploitable without authentication and stems from improper sanitization of user-supplied input in the application layer.
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
= 2.5.0= 2.5.1= 2.5.2= 2.5.3= 2.5.4CVSS 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
- None
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/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 installed Joomla versionAccess the administrator backend and navigate to Help > System Info > Version Information, or check the version.php file in the Joomla installation root directory under /libraries/cms/version.phpAffected if The installed version is 2.5.0, 2.5.1, 2.5.2, 2.5.3, or 2.5.4
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Verify Joomla is publicly accessibleConfirm the Joomla web application is exposed to remote users (not behind IP-based access restrictions) by attempting to access the frontend from an external networkAffected if The application is reachable from untrusted networks without authentication
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Test for SQL error exposureSubmit crafted input to public-facing Joomla forms (such as search, login, or user registration) that contains syntax intended to trigger SQL errors, e.g., entering a single quote (') or UNION-based payloads in text fieldsAffected if The application returns SQL error messages that reveal database structure, table names, or query details in the response
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Check application-level input filteringReview the Joomla configuration and any deployed web application firewall (WAF) settings to determine if custom input filtering rules are applied at the application layerAffected if No application-layer input filtering or WAF rules are configured to sanitize user-supplied input before database queries
You are affected if your Joomla installation version is 2.5.0 through 2.5.4, the application is accessible to remote users without authentication, and SQL error messages are returned in response to malformed input.
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 Joomla! to version 2.5.5 or later. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, review and restrict access to vulnerable endpoints while planning the upgrade, and ensure proper input filtering is applied at the web application firewall level.
Fix this in Joomla\!
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,040.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-2748 — 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-2012-2748 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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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