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Joomla\!Application · Joomla

CVE-2017-11612

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-07-26
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

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
In Joomla! before 3.7.4, inadequate filtering of potentially malicious HTML tags leads to XSS vulnerabilities in various components.

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

Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Joomla! CMS versions before 3.7.4 due to inadequate filtering of potentially malicious HTML tags across various components, allowing attackers to inject malicious scripts via unsanitized user input.

MitigationUpdate to Joomla! 3.7.4 or later which includes proper HTML tag filtering, and audit any custom or third-party components for similar filtering vulnerabilities.

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:= 1.5.0= 1.5.1= 1.5.2= 1.5.3= 1.5.4= 1.5.5= 1.5.6= 1.5.7= 1.5.8= 1.5.9= 1.5.10= 1.5.11

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
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 checks

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

  1. Check Joomla CMS version in administrator backend
    Log into the Joomla administrator panel and look at the bottom of any admin page for the version number displayed in the footer, or navigate to Help > System Information to view version details
    Affected if The displayed version is 1.5.0 through 3.7.3 (any version before 3.7.4)
  2. Check Joomla version via configuration file
    Inspect the libraries/cms/version/version.php file or the libraries/src/Version.php file (depending on version) and locate the public $RELEASE variable which contains the version number
    Affected if The version retrieved from the file is 1.5.0 through 3.7.3
  3. Check Joomla version in database
    Query the #__extensions table (or jos_extensions in older versions) for the manifest cache entry, or check the #__schemas table for the joomla entry to determine the version
    Affected if The version stored in the database is 1.5.0 through 3.7.3
  4. Identify components accepting user input
    Review installed components via the administrator Extensions > Manage menu and identify any components that accept and display user-submitted content without proper sanitization
    Affected if Components that render user input as HTML without filtering potentially malicious tags are in use
  5. Verify HTML filtering in custom code
    Search component source code for instances of JRequest::getVar, JInput::get, or similar functions that retrieve user input and are output via echo or print statements without passing through JHtml::_('behavior.calendar'), JHTML::_('grid.boolean'), or proper output encoding
    Affected if User input is being output directly without HTML entity encoding or filtering

You are affected if your installed Joomla version is any release from 1.5.0 through 3.7.3 and you have components that render unsanitized user input as HTML.

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

Update to Joomla! 3.7.4 or later which includes proper HTML tag filtering, and audit any custom or third-party components for similar filtering vulnerabilities.

Fix this in Joomla\! 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
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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-2017-11612 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