Cms Made SimpleApplication · Cmsmadesimple

CVE-2019-9061

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-03-26
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.2.8 or later.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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
An issue was discovered in CMS Made Simple 2.2.8. In the module ModuleManager (in the file action.installmodule.php), it is possible to reach an unserialize call with untrusted input and achieve authenticated object injection by using the "install module" 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 confidence

In CMS Made Simple 2.2.8, the ModuleManager's action.installmodule.php contains an insecure unserialize() call that processes untrusted input provided through the module installation feature. An authenticated attacker can craft malicious serialized PHP objects to achieve object injection, potentially leading to code execution or other impacts depending on available classes in the application.

MitigationReplace the insecure unserialize() call with safe deserialization (e.g., JSON decoding) and implement proper input validation. If unserialize is required, use the allowed_classes parameter with a strict whitelist of permitted classes.

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
Cms Made SimpleApplication
Affected:<= 2.2.8

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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. Identify CMS Made Simple version
    Access the admin panel footer or check the version.php file in the installation root directory to determine the installed version number
    Affected if The installed version is 2.2.8 or any version below 2.2.8
  2. Verify ModuleManager module presence
    Navigate to the admin panel and check if the ModuleManager extension is installed and listed under the Extensions menu
    Affected if The ModuleManager module is installed and enabled in the CMS
  3. Confirm vulnerable file location
    Locate the file /ModuleManager/action.installmodule.php within the web root directory and verify it exists
    Affected if The file action.installmodule.php exists in the ModuleManager directory
  4. Check authentication access to ModuleManager
    Log into the CMS admin panel and determine if the current user account has permissions to access the ModuleManager module for installing extensions
    Affected if An authenticated user with ModuleManager access exists in the system

A user is affected if they are running CMS Made Simple version 2.2.8 or lower with the ModuleManager module enabled and accessible to authenticated users.

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 2.2.8
Interim mitigation

Replace the insecure unserialize() call with safe deserialization (e.g., JSON decoding) and implement proper input validation. If unserialize is required, use the allowed_classes parameter with a strict whitelist of permitted classes.

Fix this in Cms Made Simple Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,760
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,416.

Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2019-9061 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