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Ektron CmsApplication · Episerver

CVE-2018-12596

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-10-10
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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
Episerver Ektron CMS before 9.0 SP3 Site CU 31, 9.1 before SP3 Site CU 45, or 9.2 before SP2 Site CU 22 allows remote attackers to call aspx pages via the "activateuser.aspx" page, even if a page is located under the /WorkArea/ path, which is forbidden (normally available exclusively for local admins).

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-269

Privileges are granted, or fail to be dropped, incorrectly, so an action runs with more power than it should. An attacker who reaches that path inherits the excess privilege. The fix is least-privilege throughout, with explicit, checked transitions whenever privilege changes.

General guidance for the improper privilege management class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
Ektron CmsApplication
Affected:= 9.00= 9.10= 9.20

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

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
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch seclists.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Ektron CMS 9.0 SP3 CU31 / 9.1 SP3 CU45 / 9.2 SP2 CU22 or later

  1. 1. Identify your current Ektron CMS version (9.0, 9.1, or 9.2) and service pack/cumulative update level
  2. 2. For Ektron CMS 9.0: Upgrade to version 9.0 SP3 Site CU 31 or later
  3. 3. For Ektron CMS 9.1: Upgrade to version 9.1 SP3 Site CU 45 or later
  4. 4. For Ektron CMS 9.2: Upgrade to version 9.2 SP2 Site CU 22 or later
  5. 5. Obtain the appropriate cumulative update from Episerver/Oxygen official support channels
  6. 6. Back up your database and website files before applying the update
  7. 7. Apply the cumulative update following Episerver's standard upgrade documentation
  8. 8. Verify the /WorkArea/ path restrictions are properly enforced after upgrade
Caveat Review Episerver release notes for your specific version upgrade to check for any breaking changes between your current version and the target CU

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

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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-2018-12596 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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