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Contao CmsApplication · Contao

CVE-2019-10641

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-04-17
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.5.39 / 4.7.3 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Contao before 3.5.39 and 4.x before 4.7.3 has a Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for a Forgotten Password.

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

Contao CMS versions before 3.5.39 and 4.x before 4.7.3 contain a weak password recovery mechanism that allows attackers to hijack accounts via the forgotten password flow. The CVSS 9.8 indicates a trivial exploit requiring no authentication, likely due to predictable reset tokens, insufficient rate limiting, or inadequate validation in the password reset endpoint.

MitigationUpgrade Contao to version 3.5.39 or later (3.x) or 4.7.3 or later (4.x) to obtain the vendor patch. If immediate patching is not possible, consider disabling the password reset functionality or implementing additional controls such as CAPTCHA and IP-based rate limiting on the reset endpoint.

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
Contao CmsApplication
Affected:< 3.5.39>= 4.0.0, < 4.7.3

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

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 Contao version
    Locate the Contao installation directory and check the version file. In Contao 3.x, check system/constants.php for the VERSION constant. In Contao 4.x, check the composer.json file or the contao-manager config for the installed version number.
    Affected if The installed version is below 3.5.39 for 3.x branches or below 4.7.3 for 4.x branches.
  2. Verify password reset endpoint accessibility
    Confirm the Contao installation has the frontend password reset module enabled. Check the front end module configuration or try accessing the forgot password URL pattern (typically /contao/password for older versions or the standard password reset route).
    Affected if The password reset form is publicly accessible without any authentication requirement.
  3. Check rate limiting configuration on reset endpoint
    Inspect the web server configuration (Apache .htaccess, Nginx config) and any application-level rate limiting for the password reset endpoint. Look for rules that limit reset request frequency from a single IP.
    Affected if No rate limiting or IP-based request throttling is configured for the password reset functionality.
  4. Inspect password reset token generation
    Review the password reset token generation logic in the source code if accessible. Look for predictability in how tokens are created (timestamp-based, sequential, weak randomness).
    Affected if Tokens appear to be generated using predictable methods or weak entropy sources.

The environment is affected if Contao version is below 3.5.39 or below 4.7.3 and the password reset endpoint is publicly accessible without adequate rate limiting or token validation controls.

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 3.5.39 / 4.7.3 or later
Fixed in 3.5.394.7.3
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Contao to version 3.5.39 or later (3.x) or 4.7.3 or later (4.x) to obtain the vendor patch. If immediate patching is not possible, consider disabling the password reset functionality or implementing additional controls such as CAPTCHA and IP-based rate limiting on the reset endpoint.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Contao 3.5.39 or Contao 4.7.3 (depending on your major version)

  1. 1. Backup your Contao installation and database before proceeding
  2. 2. For Contao 3.x: Upgrade to version 3.5.39 or later
  3. 3. For Contao 4.x: Upgrade to version 4.7.3 or later
  4. 4. If using Composer, run: composer require contao/core-bundle:^3.5.39 or composer require contao/core-bundle:^4.7.3 depending on your major version
  5. 5. Run the Contao install tool to update the database schema if needed
  6. 6. Clear all Contao caches after the upgrade
  7. 7. Verify the password recovery functionality works correctly
  8. 8. Test that existing user accounts can log in after the upgrade
Caveat Review release notes for any breaking changes between your current version and the target version; major version upgrades (e.g., 3.x to 4.x) may require additional migration steps

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

Fix this in Contao Cms Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,900
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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-2019-10641 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