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KirbyApplication · Getkirby

CVE-2023-38489

HIGH · 7.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-07-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.5.8.3 / 3.6.6.3 or later.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable Patch available

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
Kirby is a content management system. A vulnerability in versions prior to 3.5.8.3, 3.6.6.3, 3.7.5.2, 3.8.4.1, and 3.9.6 affects all Kirby sites with user accounts (unless Kirby's API and Panel are disabled in the config). It can only be abused if a Kirby user is logged in on a device or browser that is shared with potentially untrusted users or if an attacker already maliciously used a previous password to log in to a Kirby site as the affected user. Insufficient Session Expiration is when a web site permits an attacker to reuse old session credentials or session IDs for authorization. In the variation described in this advisory, it allows attackers to stay logged in to a Kirby site on another device even if the logged in user has since changed their password. Kirby did not invalidate user sessions that were created with a password that was since changed by the user or by a site admin. If a user changed their password to lock out an attacker who was already in possession of the previous password or of a login session on another device or browser, the attacker would not be reliably prevented from accessing the Kirby site as the affected user. The problem has been patched in Kirby 3.5.8.3, 3.6.6.3, 3.7.5.2, 3.8.4.1, and 3.9.6. In all of the mentioned releases, the maintainers have updated the authentication implementation to keep track of the hashed password in each active session. If the password changed since the login, the session is invalidated. To enforce this fix even if the vulnerability was previously abused, all users are logged out from the Kirby site after updating to one of the patched releases.

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

A detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.

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
KirbyApplication
Affected:>= 3.5.0, < 3.5.8.3>= 3.6.0, < 3.6.6.3>= 3.7.0, < 3.7.5.2>= 3.8.0, < 3.8.4.1>= 3.9.0, < 3.9.6

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
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

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 3.5.8.3 / 3.6.6.3 / 3.7.5.2 or later
Fixed in 3.5.8.33.6.6.33.7.5.2
Vendor patch github.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

3.9.6 (or 3.8.4.1, 3.7.5.2, 3.6.6.3, or 3.5.8.3 depending on your current branch)

  1. 1. Backup your Kirby site database and files before proceeding with any upgrade.
  2. 2. Update Kirby to version 3.5.8.3 (if currently on 3.5.x), 3.6.6.3 (if currently on 3.6.x), 3.7.5.2 (if currently on 3.7.x), 3.8.4.1 (if currently on 3.8.x), or 3.9.6 (latest stable release).
  3. 3. If using Composer, run: composer require getkirby/kirby:^3.9.6 (or your target version)
  4. 4. If not using Composer, download the appropriate release from https://github.com/getkirby/kirby/releases and replace the kirby/ directory.
  5. 5. Clear any cached data (run php vendor/bin/kirby clear cache or delete the site/cache directory).
  6. 6. After the upgrade, all users will be automatically logged out - inform users they will need to log in again.
  7. 7. Verify the upgrade was successful by logging into the Panel and confirming the version in the footer.
Caveat After upgrading, all active user sessions are invalidated and users must log in again - this is intentional to ensure any compromised sessions are terminated.

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

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,950. Get the upgrade done

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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-2023-38489 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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