CVE-2018-16372
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 · uneditedThe issue was discovered in IdeaCMS through 2016-04-30. There is reflected XSS via the index.php?c=content&a=search kw parameter. NOTE: this product is discontinued.
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 confidenceIdeaCMS contains a reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the search functionality. The 'kw' parameter in index.php (via c=content&a=search) does not properly sanitize user input, allowing attackers to inject malicious JavaScript that executes in the context of the victim's browser.
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<= 2016-04-30CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm IdeaCMS installationLocate the IdeaCMS installation by searching for 'index.php' and check for the presence of the IdeaCMS file structure (look for directories like /core/, /data/, /template/)Affected if The system has IdeaCMS installed on the web server
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Identify the IdeaCMS versionCheck the version by reviewing the changelog file, version info in any config files, or the build date embedded in release files. Compare against the 2016-04-30 or earlier cutoffAffected if The installed version is dated 2016-04-30 or earlier
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Verify search functionality existsAccess the search page by navigating to index.php?c=content&a=search or submitting a GET request to this endpoint. Confirm the 'kw' parameter is acceptedAffected if The search functionality is accessible and the 'kw' parameter is accepted
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Test for reflected XSS in the kw parameterSubmit a benign XSS test payload (such as <script>alert(1)</script>) in the 'kw' parameter via the search URL and observe if it is reflected unescaped in the responseAffected if The payload is reflected directly in the HTML output without encoding or sanitization
A system is affected if it runs IdeaCMS version 2016-04-30 or earlier and the search functionality with the 'kw' parameter is accessible and reflects user input without sanitization.
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 dataSince IdeaCMS is discontinued, apply output encoding/sanitization to the 'kw' parameter in the search function, or implement a web application firewall (WAF) rule to filter malicious XSS payloads in this parameter.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-16372 — 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-2018-16372 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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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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