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TYPO3CMS

CVE-2023-38499

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-07-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 9.5.42 / 10.4.39 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click 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
TYPO3 is an open source PHP based web content management system. Starting in version 9.4.0 and prior to versions 9.5.42 ELTS, 10.4.39 ELTS, 11.5.30, and 12.4.4, in multi-site scenarios, enumerating the HTTP query parameters `id` and `L` allowed out-of-scope access to rendered content in the website frontend. For instance, this allowed visitors to access content of an internal site by adding handcrafted query parameters to the URL of a site that was publicly available. TYPO3 versions 9.5.42 ELTS, 10.4.39 ELTS, 11.5.30, 12.4.4 fix the problem.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-200

The application discloses data — error detail, internal paths, tokens, or other users' records — to someone who shouldn't see it. On its own it can look minor, but it hands attackers the map they need for a larger attack. Remediation is about minimising what's returned and enforcing authorization on every piece of data.

General guidance for the information exposure class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
TYPO3CMS
Affected:>= 9.4.0, < 9.5.42>= 10.0.0, < 10.4.39>= 11.0.0, < 11.5.30>= 12.0.0, < 12.4.4

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

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 9.5.42 / 10.4.39 / 11.5.30 or later
Fixed in 9.5.4210.4.3911.5.30
Vendor patch github.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to TYPO3 9.5.42 (ELTS), 10.4.39 (ELTS), 11.5.30, or 12.4.4 depending on your current major version line

  1. 1. Identify the currently installed TYPO3 version by checking the Composer.json file or the TYPO3 backend (Help > About).
  2. 2. Based on your current major version, upgrade to the minimum secure release: For TYPO3 v9.x, upgrade to 9.5.42; for v10.x, upgrade to 10.4.39; for v11.x, upgrade to 11.5.30; for v12.x, upgrade to 12.4.4.
  3. 3. Update dependencies using Composer: Run `composer require typo3/cms-core:^<new-version> --with-all-dependencies` where <new-version> is your target version (e.g., 9.5.42).
  4. 4. Clear all caches after upgrade: Run `vendor/bin/typo3 cache:flush` or delete the var/cache directory.
  5. 5. Verify the installation works correctly and test frontend access controls in multi-site configurations.
  6. 6. Confirm the vulnerability is resolved by attempting parameter enumeration on publicly accessible sites to ensure internal site content is no longer reachable via crafted id/L parameters.
Caveat Minor: ReviewTYPO3 change logs for deprecation warnings between minor versions; ensure PHP version compatibility with the target release

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 $900. 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-2023-38499 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