CVE-2019-9059
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 CMS Made Simple 2.2.8. It is possible, with an administrator account, to achieve command injection by modifying the path of the e-mail executable in Mail Settings, setting "sendmail" in the "Mailer" option, and launching the "Forgot your password" feature.
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 confidenceIn CMS Made Simple 2.2.8, an authenticated administrator can achieve OS command injection by modifying the path to the e-mail executable in Mail Settings, selecting 'sendmail' as the Mailer option, and then triggering the 'Forgot your password' feature to execute arbitrary commands through the unsanitized mail path.
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<= 2.2.8CVSS 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
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/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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Verify CMS Made Simple versionLocate the version file or check the admin dashboard 'About' page. In the file system, look for version.php in the /lib or /includes directory, or access the Help > About section in the admin panel.Affected if The installed version is 2.2.8 or lower (any version up to and including 2.2.8).
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Check the configured Mailer settingLog in to the admin panel and navigate to Site Admin > Mail Settings, or inspect the database table cms_module_extensions (if direct database access is available) for the Mail Settings configuration.Affected if The Mailer option is set to 'sendmail'.
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Inspect the sendmail path configurationIn the admin panel Mail Settings page, examine the 'Path to sendmail' or 'Mailer Settings' field. Alternatively, query the database for the module preferences setting that stores this path.Affected if A custom path is configured in the sendmail path field (a non-default or modified path indicates the vulnerable configuration is in place).
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Verify the Forgot Password feature is accessibleAccess the public-facing 'Forgot your password' link on the login page (usually at / forgotpw). Confirm the page loads and accepts input.Affected if The Forgot Password feature is enabled and accessible to unauthenticated users.
A user is affected if they run CMS Made Simple version 2.2.8 or lower with sendmail configured as the Mailer and a custom sendmail path set in Mail Settings.
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.
From vendor dataRestrict administrative access, audit admin accounts for necessity, and implement strict input validation on the mail executable path field to prevent command injection. Upgrade to a patched version if available.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-9059 — 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-2019-9059 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data