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Joomla\!Application · Joomla

CVE-2020-13760

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-06-02
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.9.19 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
In Joomla! before 3.9.19, missing token checks in com_postinstall lead to CSRF.

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

Joomla! before 3.9.19 contains a CSRF vulnerability in the com_postinstall component due to missing anti-CSRF token validation. An attacker could trick an authenticated administrator into executing unintended actions via malicious requests.

MitigationUpgrade Joomla! to version 3.9.19 or later to include the token validation fix. As a CSRF vulnerability, this requires an authenticated administrator to be tricked, but the HIGH CVSS indicates significant impact if exploited.

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:>= 3.7.1, < 3.9.19= 3.7.0

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 Joomla! version
    Access the administrator backend and check the version information typically displayed on the control panel, or inspect the libraries/cms.php file for the VERSION constant.
    Affected if The installed version is 3.7.0 or falls within the range >= 3.7.1 and < 3.9.19
  2. Verify com_postinstall component exists
    Check if the component exists by accessing /administrator/index.php?option=com_postinstall or by verifying the /administrator/components/com_postinstall directory is present on the server.
    Affected if The com_postinstall component directory exists (this is true for all affected versions as it is a core component)
  3. Confirm administrator access is possible
    Verify that administrator accounts exist and can log in to the Joomla! administrator backend.
    Affected if At least one administrator account is active and can authenticate to the backend (required for CSRF exploitation)

You are affected if your Joomla! installation version is 3.7.0, or any version from 3.7.1 through 3.9.18, and you have an active administrator account.

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 3.9.19 or later
Fixed in 3.9.19
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Joomla! to version 3.9.19 or later to include the token validation fix. As a CSRF vulnerability, this requires an authenticated administrator to be tricked, but the HIGH CVSS indicates significant impact if exploited.

Fix this in Joomla\! Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,720
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,752.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2020-13760 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