Ask Expert ScriptApplication · Phpscriptsmall

CVE-2019-25676

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-04-05
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Ask Expert Script 3.0.5 contains cross-site scripting and SQL injection vulnerabilities that allow unauthenticated attackers to inject malicious code by manipulating URL parameters. Attackers can inject script tags through the cateid parameter in categorysearch.php or SQL code through the view parameter in list-details.php to execute arbitrary code or extract database information.

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

Ask Expert Script 3.0.5 contains two critical vulnerabilities exploitable by unauthenticated attackers: a reflected XSS vulnerability in categorysearch.php via the cateid parameter allowing script injection, and a SQL injection vulnerability in list-details.php via the view parameter enabling database extraction or arbitrary code execution.

MitigationApply input validation and output encoding for the cateid parameter to mitigate XSS, and use parameterized queries/prepared statements for the view parameter to prevent SQL injection. If no patch is available, consider deploying a WAF or removing the affected scripts.

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
Ask Expert ScriptApplication
Affected:= 3.0.5

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:3.1/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm Ask Expert Script installation and version
    Locate the script's version identifier by checking the script's index file, admin panel, or any version documentation file included in the installation directory
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 3.0.5
  2. Check for categorysearch.php file
    Search the web server document root for the file categorysearch.php and inspect its source code to see if it processes a cateid parameter
    Affected if The file exists and handles the cateid parameter without input validation
  3. Check for list-details.php file
    Search the web server document root for the file list-details.php and inspect its source code to see if it processes a view parameter in database queries
    Affected if The file exists and uses the view parameter in SQL queries without parameterized queries
  4. Verify web accessibility of vulnerable scripts
    Attempt HTTP requests to categorysearch.php and list-details.php to determine if these endpoints are accessible without authentication
    Affected if Either script is accessible via web requests without requiring authentication

Your environment is affected if you have Ask Expert Script version 3.0.5 installed with the vulnerable categorysearch.php and list-details.php files accessible via web without authentication.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply input validation and output encoding for the cateid parameter to mitigate XSS, and use parameterized queries/prepared statements for the view parameter to prevent SQL injection. If no patch is available, consider deploying a WAF or removing the affected scripts.

Fix this in Ask Expert Script Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,440
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-25676 — 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-2019-25676 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