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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 3 May 2022.
DotnetnukeApplication · Dnnsoftware

CVE-2018-18325

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-07-03
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 9.2.2 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges 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
DNN (aka DotNetNuke) 9.2 through 9.2.2 uses a weak encryption algorithm to protect input parameters. NOTE: this issue exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2018-15811.

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

DNN versions 9.2 through 9.2.2 use a weak encryption algorithm to protect input parameters. This vulnerability stems from an incomplete fix for the earlier CVE-2018-15811, indicating the previous patch did not fully resolve the weak encryption issue.

MitigationUpgrade DNN to a version beyond 9.2.2 where the weak encryption has been replaced with a stronger algorithm, or implement proper encryption for the affected input parameters.

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
DotnetnukeApplication
Affected:>= 9.2, <= 9.2.2

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
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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. Determine installed DNN version
    Check the version number displayed in the DNN site footer, or inspect the ~/Version.config or ~/web.config file for the version string
    Affected if The version is 9.2, 9.2.1, or 9.2.2
  2. Locate the encryption configuration
    Open the web.config file in the DNN root directory and search for machineKey or encryption-related settings in the appSettings section
    Affected if Weak encryption is configured for protecting sensitive parameters
  3. Identify affected encryption handler
    Check the ~/bin folder for the Presence of DotNetNuke.dll and inspect its assembly version using Windows Explorer properties or a .NET disassembler
    Affected if The assembly version matches the vulnerable 9.2.x range
  4. Check for affected input parameter protection
    Examine the DNN configuration for settings related to URL parameter encryption, typically found in the appSettings of web.config under keys like 'EncryptionKey' or 'EnableUnicodeEncoding'
    Affected if Legacy weak encryption is enabled for URL parameters or form data

A user is affected if their DNN installation shows version 9.2, 9.2.1, or 9.2.2 and uses the default weak encryption for input parameters.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 9.2.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade DNN to a version beyond 9.2.2 where the weak encryption has been replaced with a stronger algorithm, or implement proper encryption for the affected input parameters.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

DNN 9.2.3 or later (upgrade to latest stable 9.x release)

  1. 1. Verify current DNN installation version by checking the web.config file or Site Settings in the DNN Persona Bar
  2. 2. Download the latest DNN 9.x release from the official DNN repository (github.com/dnnsoftware/dnn-platform)
  3. 3. Back up the entire DNN website including database, files, and configuration files
  4. 4. Deploy the upgraded DNN version following standard upgrade procedures
  5. 5. Verify the encryption mechanism has been updated to use strong algorithms (e.g., AES-256)
  6. 6. Test critical functionality to ensure the upgrade did not break existing features
  7. 7. Monitor DNN security announcements for any additional patches
Caveat Standard DNN minor version upgrades typically maintain compatibility but test in staging first; review release notes for any breaking changes between 9.2.x and the target version

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

Fix this in Dotnetnuke Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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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-2018-18325 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