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Joomla\!Application · Joomla

CVE-2022-23795

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-03-30
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 4.1.0 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
An issue was discovered in Joomla! 2.5.0 through 3.10.6 & 4.0.0 through 4.1.0. A user row was not bound to a specific authentication mechanism which could under very special circumstances allow an account takeover.

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 confidence

Joomla! fails to bind user rows to specific authentication mechanisms, allowing an attacker under very special circumstances to authenticate as a legitimate user and potentially take over their account. The vulnerability affects both the 3.x and 4.x series of Joomla! CMS.

MitigationUpdate Joomla! to version 3.10.7 or 4.1.1 or later to apply the patch that properly binds user records to their authentication mechanisms.

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:>= 2.5.0, <= 3.10.6>= 4.0.0, <= 4.1.0

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
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. Identify installed Joomla version
    Access the administrator backend and navigate to System > Information, or check the libraries/cms/version.php file for the VERSION constant value
    Affected if The version falls within 2.5.0-3.10.6 or 4.0.0-4.1.0
  2. Verify authentication plugin configuration
    In the administrator panel, go to Users > Manage > Options (or Users > Options in Joomla 4) and examine the user settings related to authentication. Also check if custom authentication plugins are enabled under Plugins by filtering for type 'authentication'
    Affected if Non-default or third-party authentication plugins are enabled, or user accounts are configured to use specific authentication mechanisms beyond the default
  3. Check for multiple authentication sources
    Review the authentication plugins list (System > Manage > Plugins, filter by type 'authentication') and identify if more than just the standard Joomla plugins (such as LDAP, SMTP, or OAuth) are active
    Affected if Multiple authentication mechanisms or plugins are configured and active

A user is affected if their Joomla installation version is within the vulnerable range AND multiple authentication mechanisms or custom authentication plugins are in use, allowing the binding bypass to occur

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 4.1.0
Interim mitigation

Update Joomla! to version 3.10.7 or 4.1.1 or later to apply the patch that properly binds user records to their authentication mechanisms.

Recommended fix High confidence

Joomla 3.10.7 or Joomla 4.1.1 (depending on your major version)

  1. Backup your Joomla site (files and database) before proceeding
  2. Log into the Joomla Administrator dashboard
  3. Navigate to System > Global Configuration and note your current Joomla version
  4. For Joomla 3.x (2.5.0-3.10.6): Go to Components > Joomla Update, or manually download Joomla 3.10.7 from downloads.joomla.org and install via Extensions > Manage > Install
  5. For Joomla 4.x (4.0.0-4.1.0): Go to System > Update > Joomla, or manually download Joomla 4.1.1 from downloads.joomla.org and install via System > Install > Extensions
  6. After installation, clear the site cache and verify the new version in System > Global Configuration
  7. Test critical functionality (login, user management, front-end access) to confirm the update works correctly
Caveat Standard Joomla minor version updates typically have minimal breaking changes, but test in staging first; major version upgrades (3.x to 4.x) involve significant architectural changes

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

Fix this in Joomla\! Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,560
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,096.

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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-2022-23795 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