CVE-2020-13869
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 the Comments plugin before 1.5.6 for Craft CMS. There is stored XSS via a guest name.
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 · moderate confidenceA stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability exists in the Craft CMS Comments plugin versions prior to 1.5.6. Attackers can inject malicious JavaScript code into the guest name field when posting comments. This payload executes when administrators or other users view the comment, potentially allowing session hijacking, credential theft, or defacement.
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< 1.5.5CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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.
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Confirm Verbb Comments plugin is installedAccess the Craft CMS control panel, navigate to Settings > Plugins, or check the craft_plugins database table for an entry with the plugin name 'comments' or 'verbb/comments'Affected if The Comments plugin is present in the Craft CMS installation
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Determine the installed Comments plugin versionIn the Craft CMS control panel under Settings > Plugins, locate the Verbb Comments plugin and note the version number displayed; alternatively, check the composer.json file in the craft/plugins/comments directory or the craft_plugins database tableAffected if The version number is lower than 1.5.5
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Verify guest commenting is enabledNavigate to Comments plugin settings in the Craft CMS control panel (typically under Comments > Settings) and check if 'Allow guest comments' or a similar option is enabled; this setting controls whether unauthenticated users can submit commentsAffected if Guest commenting is enabled and the plugin version is vulnerable
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Inspect comment records for malicious name payloadsQuery the craft_comments or craft_comments_comments database table (exact table name depends on plugin version) and examine the 'name' or 'authorName' column for HTML script tags, javascript: handlers, or encoded XSS payloads (such as <script>, onerror=, onload=, img src=x onerror=)Affected if Any comment records contain executable JavaScript or HTML in the name field that was not intentionally authored by an administrator
A user is affected if the Verbb Comments plugin version is below 1.5.5, guest commenting is enabled, and the comment database contains malicious scripts in the name field that will execute when viewed by administrators.
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 data1.5.5
Upgrade the Craft CMS Comments plugin to version 1.5.6 or later to remediate the stored XSS vulnerability.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 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-2020-13869 — 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-2020-13869 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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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