CVE-2020-5574
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 · uneditedHTML attribute value injection vulnerability in Movable Type series (Movable Type 7 r.4606 (7.2.1) and earlier (Movable Type 7), Movable Type Advanced 7 r.4606 (7.2.1) and earlier (Movable Type Advanced 7), Movable Type for AWS 7 r.4606 (7.2.1) and earlier (Movable Type for AWS 7), Movable Type 6.5.3 and earlier (Movable Type 6.5), Movable Type Advanced 6.5.3 and earlier (Movable Type Advanced 6.5), Movable Type 6.3.11 and earlier (Movable Type 6.3), Movable Type Advanced 6.3.11 and earlier (Movable Type 6.3), Movable Type Premium 1.29 and earlier, and Movable Type Premium Advanced 1.29 and earlier) allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary HTML attribute value via unspecified vectors.
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 confidenceHTML attribute value injection vulnerability in Movable Type allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary HTML attribute values via unspecified vectors. This is a form of Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) where malicious attribute data can be injected into HTML elements, potentially leading to script execution or session hijacking when users view injected content.
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<= 1.29>= 6.3, <= 6.3.11>= 6.5.0, <= 6.5.3>= 7.0, <= 7.2.1CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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 Movable Type installationSearch for Movable Type directories or files on the web server. Typical locations include /cgi-bin/mt/ or /mt/. Look for mt-config.cgi or other MT-specific configuration files.Affected if Movable Type software is present on the server
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Locate version informationCheck the Movable Type admin interface for the version number, typically found in the system settings or about page. Alternatively, look for version indicators in release notes or configuration files within the MT installation directory.Affected if Version cannot be determined or is not visible
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Compare installed version against affected rangesMatch your installed Movable Type version against the following vulnerable ranges: versions 1.29 and below; versions 6.3.0 through 6.3.11; versions 6.5.0 through 6.5.3; versions 7.0 through 7.2.1.Affected if Installed version falls within any of these ranges: <=1.29, 6.3.0-6.3.11, 6.5.0-6.5.3, or 7.0-7.2.1
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Identify exposed input vectorsReview which Movable Type templates or fields accept user-supplied content that gets rendered in HTML attribute contexts, such as custom fields, comments, or content created through the MT authoring interface.Affected if User-generated content is published and rendered without explicit attribute encoding in templates
Your environment is affected if Movable Type is installed and the installed version matches one of the vulnerable version ranges listed above.
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 dataUpgrade to the latest patched version of Movable Type (or apply vendor-supplied patches) and implement output encoding for user-supplied data to prevent attribute injection.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-5574 — 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-2020-5574 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