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Joomla\!Application · Joomla

CVE-2017-11364

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-08-02
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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 CMS installer in Joomla! before 3.7.4 does not verify a user's ownership of a webspace, which allows remote authenticated users to gain control of the target application by leveraging Certificate Transparency logs.

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! before 3.7.4 contains an authorization bypass in its CMS installer where the system fails to verify a user's ownership of a webspace before allowing installation. Remote authenticated attackers can exploit this by leveraging Certificate Transparency logs to identify valid webspace targets and install a Joomla instance under the attacker's control, effectively gaining full control of the target application.

MitigationUpgrade to Joomla 3.7.4 or later to obtain the patch that implements proper webspace ownership verification in the CMS installer. If immediate patching is not possible, restrict CMS installer access to only trusted administrators and monitor for unauthorized installations.

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:= 1.0.0= 1.0.1= 1.0.2= 1.0.3= 1.0.4= 1.0.5= 1.0.6= 1.0.7= 1.0.8= 1.0.9= 1.0.10= 1.0.11

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

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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 Joomla version installed
    Locate the version.php file in the Joomla installation directory (typically /libraries/cms/version.php or /includes/version.php in older versions) and read the $RELEASE variable, or access the administrator backend and check the Help > System Info menu for the version number
    Affected if The installed version is 1.0.0, 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.3, 1.0.4, 1.0.5, 1.0.6, 1.0.7, 1.0.8, 1.0.9, 1.0.10, or 1.0.11 (any 1.0.x version through 1.0.11)
  2. Verify CMS installer is accessible
    Check if the /installation directory still exists on the web server and is accessible via HTTP/HTTPS requests (try accessing the directory directly in a browser)
    Affected if The CMS installer directory exists and responds to requests, indicating the application has not been properly secured post-installation
  3. Check webspace ownership verification in installer
    Review the installer code files (typically in the /installation directory) for the presence of ownership verification logic; in affected versions this check is missing from files like installation/controller.php or installation/models/setup.php
    Affected if The installer code lacks webspace ownership verification checks before proceeding with installation steps (this requires source code review of the installation application)
  4. Audit user account privileges and access controls
    Review the Joomla user groups and access levels in the administrator backend under Users > Access Levels, and check which user groups have permission to access the CMS installer or perform installations
    Affected if Authenticated users with limited privileges (below Super Administrator) can access installation functions or initiate CMS installations

You are affected if your Joomla installation is version 1.0.x (1.0.0 through 1.0.11) and the CMS installer directory remains accessible without proper webspace ownership verification in place.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade to Joomla 3.7.4 or later to obtain the patch that implements proper webspace ownership verification in the CMS installer. If immediate patching is not possible, restrict CMS installer access to only trusted administrators and monitor for unauthorized installations.

Fix this in Joomla\! Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,570
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2017-11364 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