dbcve.org
VbulletinApplication

CVE-2016-6195

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-08-30
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 4.2.2 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
High EPSS 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
SQL injection vulnerability in forumrunner/includes/moderation.php in vBulletin before 4.2.2 Patch Level 5 and 4.2.3 before Patch Level 1 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands via the postids parameter to forumrunner/request.php, as exploited in the wild in July 2016.

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

SQL injection vulnerability in the forumrunner plugin for vBulletin allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands via the postids parameter in forumrunner/request.php. The vulnerability exists in forumrunner/includes/moderation.php and affects vBulletin versions before 4.2.2 Patch Level 5 and 4.2.3 before Patch Level 1.

MitigationUpdate vBulletin to version 4.2.2 Patch Level 5 or later, or 4.2.3 Patch Level 1 or later. If the forumrunner plugin is not required, consider removing it entirely.

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
VbulletinApplication
Affected:<= 4.2.2= 4.2.3

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/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. Check vBulletin installation version
    Access the vBulletin admin control panel and navigate to the version information page, or check the version.php file in your vBulletin root directory to determine the exact version and patch level.
    Affected if The installed version is 4.2.2 without Patch Level 5 or earlier, or version 4.2.3 without Patch Level 1.
  2. Verify forumrunner plugin is installed
    Check if the forumrunner directory exists in your vBulletin installation by looking for the forumrunner folder in the root or includes directory.
    Affected if The forumrunner plugin directory is present on the server.
  3. Confirm vulnerable file exists
    Locate the file forumrunner/includes/moderation.php within your vBulletin installation directory and verify it exists.
    Affected if The file forumrunner/includes/moderation.php exists on the server.
  4. Identify if postids parameter is accessible
    Review your web server logs or test accessing forumrunner/request.php with a crafted postids parameter to determine if the endpoint is reachable.
    Affected if The forumrunner/request.php script is accessible and accepts user input via the postids parameter.

You are affected if your vBulletin version is 4.2.2 before Patch Level 5 or 4.2.3 before Patch Level 1, the forumrunner plugin is installed, and the forumrunner/request.php endpoint is accessible.

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 a release after 4.2.2
Interim mitigation

Update vBulletin to version 4.2.2 Patch Level 5 or later, or 4.2.3 Patch Level 1 or later. If the forumrunner plugin is not required, consider removing it entirely.

Recommended fix High confidence

vBulletin 4.2.2 Patch Level 5 or vBulletin 4.2.3 Patch Level 1 or later

  1. 1. Back up the vBulletin database and all website files before making any changes
  2. 2. Obtain vBulletin 4.2.2 Patch Level 5 or vBulletin 4.2.3 Patch Level 1 (or later) from the official vBulletin members area at members.vbulletin.com
  3. 3. Upload the patched forumrunner directory and request.php file to the server, replacing the vulnerable versions
  4. 4. Run any included upgrade scripts or database updates as specified in the patch documentation
  5. 5. Verify the patch was applied correctly by checking the file version/date matches the patch release
  6. 6. Test that forum functionality (particularly moderation features) works properly after the update
  7. 7. Monitor logs for any continued exploitation attempts
Caveat Patch level upgrades are typically minor and backward compatible, but always test in a staging environment first

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

Fix this in Vbulletin Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,130
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,408.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-6195 — 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-2016-6195 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