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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 10 Jun 2022.
Fuel CmsApplication · Thedaylightstudio

CVE-2020-17463

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-08-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges 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
FUEL CMS 1.4.7 allows SQL Injection via the col parameter to /pages/items, /permissions/items, or /navigation/items.

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

SQL injection vulnerability in FUEL CMS 1.4.7 allows remote attackers to inject malicious SQL queries via the 'col' parameter in multiple API endpoints (/pages/items, /permissions/items, /navigation/items). The lack of proper input sanitization on this parameter enables attackers to manipulate database queries.

MitigationUpgrade FUEL CMS to a patched version that addresses this SQL injection vulnerability, or implement proper input validation and parameterized queries for the col parameter in the affected endpoints.

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
Fuel CmsApplication
Affected:= 1.4.7

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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. Confirm FUEL CMS installation
    Look for the Fuel CMS application directory structure, typically in the web root. Check for the presence of folders like fuel/, fuel/application/, or the index.php file with FUEL bootstrap code.
    Affected if Fuel CMS is present on the server
  2. Identify installed FUEL CMS version
    Check the fuel/codeigniter/version.php file or look for a VERSION file in the FUEL installation directory. Alternatively, check the fuel/application/config/MY_fuel.php for version indicators.
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 1.4.7
  3. Verify vulnerable endpoints exist
    Check if the application has the items controller accessible. Look for fuel/modules/pages/controllers/items.php, fuel/modules/permissions/controllers/items.php, or fuel/modules/navigation/controllers/items.php.
    Affected if The items controllers for pages, permissions, or navigation modules exist in the installation
  4. Confirm endpoint accessibility
    Attempt to access the URLs /pages/items, /permissions/items, or /navigation/items on the web server (without authentication). These should return an HTTP 200 response indicating the endpoint exists and is reachable.
    Affected if Any of these endpoints are accessible without authentication and respond with application data
  5. Check for input filtering
    Inspect the items.php controllers in the affected modules to see if there is input validation or sanitization being applied to the col parameter before constructing SQL queries.
    Affected if No input filtering or sanitization on the col parameter is present in the code

The environment is affected if FUEL CMS version 1.4.7 is installed AND the /pages/items, /permissions/items, or /navigation/items endpoints are accessible without authentication and process the col parameter without SQL injection protection.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade FUEL CMS to a patched version that addresses this SQL injection vulnerability, or implement proper input validation and parameterized queries for the col parameter in the affected endpoints.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Fuel CMS 1.4.8 or later (latest stable release)

  1. 1. Backup your current Fuel CMS installation and database before making any changes.
  2. 2. Download the latest stable version of Fuel CMS from the official repository at github.com/daylightstudio/FUEL-CMS.
  3. 3. Replace the existing Fuel CMS files with the new version, preserving your configuration and assets.
  4. 4. Verify that the application functions correctly after the upgrade.
  5. 5. Test the previously vulnerable endpoints (/pages/items, /permissions/items, /navigation/items) to confirm the SQL injection is no longer present.
Caveat Review release notes for any configuration changes or deprecated features between 1.4.7 and the target version

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Fuel Cms Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,280
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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-2020-17463 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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