Joomla\!Application · Joomla

CVE-2019-18650

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-11-06
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 3.9.12 or later.
See remediation →
95/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
An issue was discovered in Joomla! before 3.9.13. A missing token check in com_template causes a CSRF vulnerability.

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

A Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Joomla! before version 3.9.13 exists due to a missing anti-CSRF token validation in the com_template component. This allows attackers to trick authenticated administrators into unknowingly executing unwanted actions within the template management interface.

MitigationUpgrade to Joomla! 3.9.13 or later which includes the missing token check. If immediate upgrade is not possible, implement CSRF tokens in the com_template component or enforce additional authentication checks for template-related operations.

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:>= 3.2.0, <= 3.9.12

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
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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 Joomla! version
    Navigate to the Joomla! administrator dashboard and check the version information, typically found in the Help > System Information menu or in the libraries/cms/version.php file
    Affected if The installed version falls within >= 3.2.0 and <= 3.9.12
  2. Verify com_template component exists
    Check if the /administrator/components/com_template/ directory exists in the Joomla installation
    Affected if The com_template component is installed and present in the system
  3. Confirm administrator access to template manager
    Log in as an administrator and navigate to Extensions > Templates to confirm access to the template management interface
    Affected if Authenticated administrators can access the template management area
  4. Inspect com_template for CSRF token validation
    Examine the controller or model files in the com_template component (such as controller.php or any style/task files) for the presence of JSession::checkToken() or similar CSRF token validation calls
    Affected if The code lacks proper CSRF token validation (JSession::checkToken or equivalent) in template-related operations

A user is affected if their Joomla! installation version is between 3.2.0 and 3.9.12 inclusive and the com_template component lacks CSRF token validation in its code.

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 a release after 3.9.12
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Joomla! 3.9.13 or later which includes the missing token check. If immediate upgrade is not possible, implement CSRF tokens in the com_template component or enforce additional authentication checks for template-related operations.

Fix this in Joomla\! Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,088.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-18650 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-18650 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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