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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 29 Jan 2024.
Joomla\!Application · Joomla

CVE-2023-23752

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-02-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.2.8 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS 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! 4.0.0 through 4.2.7. An improper access check allows unauthorized access to webservice endpoints.

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

Joomla! versions 4.0.0 through 4.2.7 contain an improper access control vulnerability in the webservice component. The issue allows unauthenticated or unauthorized users to access webservice endpoints that should be restricted, bypassing intended access controls.

MitigationUpgrade Joomla! to version 4.2.8 or later to apply the access control fix. If immediate upgrade is not possible, review and restrict webservice endpoint access through configuration or web application firewall rules.

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:>= 4.0.0, < 4.2.8

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
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check Joomla version
    Log into the Joomla Administrator dashboard and navigate to System > System Information, or inspect the file /libraries/src/Version.php for the VERSION constant
    Affected if The version is between 4.0.0 and 4.2.7 inclusive
  2. Test webservice endpoint accessibility
    Send an unauthenticated HTTP GET request to the Joomla API endpoint, such as https://yourdomain.com/api/index.php/v1/config or /api/index.php/v1/users
    Affected if The API returns a 200 OK response with JSON data instead of requiring authentication (401/403)
  3. Verify config endpoint exposure
    Make a GET request to the /api/v1/config endpoint without providing any API token or session cookie
    Affected if Sensitive configuration data is returned in plain JSON format without authentication being enforced

You are affected if your Joomla installation is version 4.0.0 through 4.2.7 and the /api/ webservice endpoints are accessible without authentication.

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 4.2.8 or later
Fixed in 4.2.8
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Joomla! to version 4.2.8 or later to apply the access control fix. If immediate upgrade is not possible, review and restrict webservice endpoint access through configuration or web application firewall rules.

Recommended fix High confidence

Joomla! 4.2.8

  1. Backup your Joomla! 4.x site database and files before proceeding
  2. Download Joomla! 4.2.8 from the official Joomla! downloads page (developer.joomla.org)
  3. Extract the Joomla! 4.2.8 package files
  4. Upload the extracted files to your web server, overwriting the existing Joomla! installation
  5. Access the Joomla! administrator dashboard and complete any pending database migrations
  6. Verify the version shows 4.2.8 in the admin panel under System > Information
  7. Test that webservice endpoints now require proper authentication
Caveat Minor version updates within 4.x typically have minimal breaking changes; verify all third-party extensions remain functional

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

Fix this in Joomla\! Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,330
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2023-23752 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