CVE-2017-1000223
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 · uneditedA stored web content injection vulnerability (WCI, a.k.a XSS) is present in MODX Revolution CMS version 2.5.6 and earlier. An authenticated user with permissions to edit users can save malicious JavaScript as a User Group name and potentially take control over victims' accounts. This can lead to an escalation of privileges providing complete administrative control over the CMS.
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 confidenceA stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability exists in MODX Revolution CMS 2.5.6 and earlier where an authenticated user with user editing permissions can inject malicious JavaScript into User Group names. This stored payload executes when other users interact with the affected user group, enabling session hijacking and privilege escalation to full administrative control.
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<= 2.5.6CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/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 MODX Revolution versionLocate the core/version.php file in your MODX installation directory and read the version number, or log into the MODX admin panel and check System -> Info (or similar version info page).Affected if The installed version is 2.5.6 or any earlier version (e.g., 2.5.5, 2.5.0, 2.4.x, etc.).
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Access User Groups management interfaceLog into the MODX Revolution admin panel and navigate to Access Permissions -> User Groups (or similar path depending on admin theme), or query the database table modx_user_group_names directly.Affected if You can view the list of user groups defined in the system.
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Inspect all User Group names for malicious contentExamine each entry in the user groups list for suspicious patterns such as HTML tags (<script>, <img>, <iframe>, etc.), JavaScript event handlers (onclick, onload, onerror), or encoded characters that may represent XSS payloads.Affected if Any User Group name contains HTML tags, JavaScript code, or unusual encoded characters that were not intentionally created by an administrator.
Your environment is affected if you run MODX Revolution version 2.5.6 or earlier AND any User Group name contains injected HTML or JavaScript that was not created by an authorized administrator.
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 dataImplement strict input validation and output encoding on the User Group name field to neutralize script execution. Upgrade to a patched version of MODX Revolution CMS.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-1000223 — 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-2017-1000223 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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