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Joomla\!Application · Joomla

CVE-2018-6380

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-01-30
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.8.4 or later.
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 3.8.4, lack of escaping in the module chromes leads to XSS vulnerabilities in the module system.

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

Joomla! before version 3.8.4 contains a Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in its module chromes system. The module chromes, which control how modules are rendered and displayed on pages, lack proper output escaping. This allows an attacker to inject malicious JavaScript or HTML code through module parameters that get rendered without sanitization, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or defacement when administrators or users view affected module content.

MitigationUpdate Joomla! to version 3.8.4 or later, which includes proper escaping in the module chromes system. Before updating, ensure a complete backup of the site, and test the upgrade in a staging environment to verify compatibility with existing modules and templates.

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:< 3.8.4

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. Determine installed Joomla version
    Access the Joomla administrator dashboard and navigate to Help > System Information, or check the libraries/cms/version.php file in the Joomla root directory to identify the current version number
    Affected if The version is less than 3.8.4 (for example, 3.8.3, 3.8.2, 3.8.1, 3.8.0, or earlier)
  2. Identify custom module chrome files
    Search the templates directory (templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/html/modules.php or templates/system/html/modules.php) for custom module chrome definitions, or review any third-party template that includes custom module rendering functions
    Affected if Custom module chrome functions exist that may handle module parameters without output escaping
  3. Review module parameters for unescaped output
    Examine module configurations in the administrator under Extensions > Modules, checking module custom output fields, titles, or wrapper parameters for content that may be rendered without proper HTML escaping in the chrome template
    Affected if Modules contain parameters or custom output that get rendered directly in the module chrome template without htmlspecialchars or equivalent escaping
  4. Inspect module chrome rendering code
    Open the module chrome PHP file (typically in templates/system/html/ or the active template's html/ folder) and look for instances where module parameters are output using echo or print statements without passing through JHtml::_('grid.id') or similar escaping methods
    Affected if The chrome code outputs module attributes or content without sanitization

You are affected if your Joomla installation version is below 3.8.4 AND your template uses custom module chromes or modules with parameters that are rendered without proper output escaping.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 3.8.4 or later
Fixed in 3.8.4
Interim mitigation

Update Joomla! to version 3.8.4 or later, which includes proper escaping in the module chromes system. Before updating, ensure a complete backup of the site, and test the upgrade in a staging environment to verify compatibility with existing modules and templates.

Fix this in Joomla\! Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.

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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-2018-6380 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