Joomla\!Application · Joomla
CVE-2020-13761
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 · uneditedIn Joomla! before 3.9.19, lack of input validation in the heading tag option of the "Articles - Newsflash" and "Articles - Categories" modules allows XSS.
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 confidenceThis is a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Joomla! CMS versions prior to 3.9.19. The 'Articles - Newsflash' and 'Articles - Categories' modules fail to properly validate input in the heading tag option, allowing authenticated attackers with module management permissions to inject malicious JavaScript that executes when the module is rendered.
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
>= 3.0.1, < 3.9.19= 3.0.0CVSS 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
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
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.
-
Identify Joomla versionNavigate to Help > About or check the configuration.php file for the $version string, or use the CLI: php cli/joomla.php versionAffected if Version is 3.0.0 or between 3.0.1 and 3.9.18 inclusive (versions prior to 3.9.19)
-
Locate installed modulesGo to Extensions > Modules in the Joomla administrator panel and search for 'Articles - Newsflash' and 'Articles - Categories' modules that are publishedAffected if Either of these module types are installed and published on the site
-
Inspect module heading tag configurationEdit each affected module (Extensions > Modules > select module > go to Options tab) and examine the 'Heading Tag' or similar option field for the module heading configurationAffected if The heading tag option contains unsanitized or potentially malicious custom HTML/JavaScript content
-
Review module management permissionsGo to System > Global Configuration > Permissions, or check the user group permissions for module management under Users > Access LevelsAffected if Users outside trusted groups (such as non-administrator or author-level users) have module management or module edit permissions
You are affected if your Joomla version is below 3.9.19 AND you have published 'Articles - Newsflash' or 'Articles - Categories' modules with potentially untrusted users having module management permissions.
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 data3.9.19
Upgrade Joomla! to version 3.9.19 or later, which implements proper input validation for the heading tag option in affected modules. If immediate upgrade is not possible, restrict module management permissions to trusted users only.
Fix this in Joomla\!
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-13761 — 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-2020-13761 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
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.
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.
- 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