CVE-2019-10068
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 · uneditedAn issue was discovered in Kentico 12.0.x before 12.0.15, 11.0.x before 11.0.48, 10.0.x before 10.0.52, and 9.x versions. Due to a failure to validate security headers, it was possible for a specially crafted request to the staging service to bypass the initial authentication and proceed to deserialize user-controlled .NET object input. This deserialization then led to unauthenticated remote code execution on the server where the Kentico instance was hosted.
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 confidenceA deserialization vulnerability in Kentico's staging service allows unauthenticated attackers to bypass authentication via missing security header validation and execute arbitrary .NET code through malicious serialized objects.
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>= 9.0.0, <= 9.0.51>= 10.0.0, < 10.0.52>= 11.0.0, < 11.0.48>= 12.0.0, < 12.0.15CVSS 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:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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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Identify Kentico Xpresence installationLocate the Kentico web application files. Check the 'CMSVersion' entry in the ~/bin/Kentico.Xperience.dll or the version attribute in the main assembly's properties. Alternatively, check the version in the Administration interface under 'About' or in the system's general settings.Affected if The installed version falls within any of these ranges: 9.0.0 to 9.0.51, 10.0.0 to 10.0.51, 11.0.0 to 11.0.47, or 12.0.0 to 12.0.14.
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Confirm staging service is enabledExamine the Kentico configuration files (web.config or staging-related config files in the App_Data or CMSFolder) for the presence and status of the staging module. Look for staging service configuration entries that indicate whether the staging feature is activated.Affected if The staging service or staging module is enabled in the configuration.
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Check staging endpoint exposureReview the web.config or staging service configuration files to identify if the staging endpoint is bound to a network-accessible IP address or port. Check for any URL or port bindings associated with the staging service.Affected if The staging endpoint is bound to a reachable network address rather than localhost only, making it externally accessible.
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Verify authentication settings on stagingInspect the staging service configuration for authentication header validation settings. Look for any entries related to security header enforcement or authentication bypass mechanisms.Affected if Security headers are not being validated or the staging service lacks proper authentication enforcement.
The environment is affected if the installed Kentico Xperience version is within any of the vulnerable version ranges AND the staging service is enabled and accessible.
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.
dbcve · scoped10.0.5211.0.4812.0.15
Apply vendor patches: upgrade to Kentico 12.0.15+, 11.0.48+, or 10.0.52+ (or latest version for 9.x). As an interim measure, disable or restrict access to the staging service endpoint if not needed.
Kentico Xperience 12.0.15, 11.0.48, 10.0.52, or 9.0.52 (depending on your major version branch)
- Identify the currently installed Kentico Xperience version by checking the CMS or administration interface
- Backup the entire Kentico database and file system before proceeding with any upgrade
- Download the appropriate fixed version from the official Kentico distribution (12.0.15 for v12, 11.0.48 for v11, 10.0.52 for v10, or 9.0.52 for v9)
- Review Kentico upgrade documentation and perform a test upgrade in a staging environment first
- Execute the upgrade installer on the production environment
- Verify the staging service functionality after upgrade
- Confirm the security header validation is now enforced on the staging endpoint
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-10068 — 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-2019-10068 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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