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OpencmsApplication · Alkacon

CVE-2023-6379

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-12-13
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 16.0.0 or later.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

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
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Alkacon Software Open CMS, affecting versions 14 and 15 of the 'Mercury' template. This vulnerability could allow a remote attacker to send a specially crafted JavaScript payload to a victim and partially take control of their browsing session.

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

A reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability exists in the Mercury template of Alkacon Software Open CMS versions 14 and 15. An attacker can inject malicious JavaScript code through unsanitized user input, potentially hijacking victim browser sessions.

MitigationImplement proper input validation and output encoding on all user-supplied data within the Mercury template. Apply context-appropriate escaping before rendering user input in HTML.

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
OpencmsApplication
Affected:>= 14.0.0, < 16.0.0

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
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

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

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

  1. Confirm Alkacon OpenCMS installation
    Locate the OpenCMS installation directory and identify if the Alkacon OpenCMS web application is deployed on your server.
    Affected if Alkacon OpenCMS is not installed, then this CVE does not apply.
  2. Check installed OpenCMS version
    Access the OpenCMS administration interface or check the version file in the OpenCMS installation directory to determine the exact version number.
    Affected if The installed version is 14.0.0 or higher but lower than 16.0.0.
  3. Identify if Mercury template is in use
    Review the site configuration or template assignments in the OpenCMS workplace to determine which template is set as default or applied to affected pages.
    Affected if The Mercury template is configured as the active template for any site or page.
  4. Inspect Mercury template for user input handling
    Examine the Mercury template files (typically in the /templates/ directory of the OpenCMS installation) to locate instances where user-supplied parameters are rendered without proper encoding.
    Affected if The Mercury template processes and outputs request parameters or user input without context-appropriate HTML escaping.

You are affected if OpenCMS versions 14.0.0 through 15.x are running with the Mercury template enabled and that template renders unsanitized user input in HTML context.

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 16.0.0 or later
Fixed in 16.0.0
Interim mitigation

Implement proper input validation and output encoding on all user-supplied data within the Mercury template. Apply context-appropriate escaping before rendering user input in HTML.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

OpenCMS 16.0.0 or later

  1. 1. Perform a complete backup of the OpenCMS database and all configuration files
  2. 2. Download OpenCMS version 16.0.0 or later from the official Alkacon Software website
  3. 3. Review the official OpenCMS upgrade documentation for version 16.0.0
  4. 4. Stop the OpenCMS application server
  5. 5. Deploy the new version following the standard upgrade procedure
  6. 6. Verify that the Mercury template has been updated to the fixed version
  7. 7. Test the application to confirm the XSS vulnerability is resolved
  8. 8. Restart the application server
Caveat Review version 16.0.0 release notes for any configuration or template changes that may require adjustments

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

Fix this in Opencms Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-2023-6379 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