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Joomla\!Application · Joomla

CVE-2024-27185

CRITICAL · 9.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-08-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.10.17 / 4.4.7 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
The pagination class includes arbitrary parameters in links, leading to cache poisoning attack vectors.

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

The pagination class in the affected application includes arbitrary user-controlled parameters in generated links. This allows an attacker to manipulate URL parameters that get cached by downstream caching mechanisms, potentially poisoning the cache and causing other users to receive malicious content (e.g., XSS payloads, phishing redirects).

MitigationImplement strict allowlisting of parameters in the pagination class, or strip all parameters except those explicitly required for pagination functionality before generating links.

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:>= 3.0.0, < 3.10.17>= 4.0.0, < 4.4.7>= 5.0.0, < 5.1.3

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
None
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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 > About Joomla, or check the libraries/cms.php file for the VERSION constant
    Affected if The installed version falls within >= 3.0.0 and < 3.10.17, >= 4.0.0 and < 4.4.7, or >= 5.0.0 and < 5.1.3
  2. Confirm pagination component is in use
    Review the website frontend pages that use pagination, such as article listings, category views, or custom lists that include pagination controls
    Affected if Any paginated page exists where users can manipulate URL query parameters
  3. Verify if site caching is enabled
    Check System > Global Configuration > System > Cache settings, or inspect configuration.php for the $cache_handler and $caching variables
    Affected if Page caching or plugin-level caching is turned on, allowing cached responses to be served to multiple users
  4. Inspect pagination URL generation
    Use browser developer tools to examine generated pagination links on affected pages, adding a test parameter like '?test=poison' to a paginated request and observing if it appears in subsequent page links
    Affected if Arbitrary query parameters from the original request are reflected in pagination-generated URLs

A Joomla installation is affected if it runs a version within the vulnerable ranges AND uses pagination features with caching enabled, allowing arbitrary parameters to persist in generated URLs.

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 3.10.17 / 4.4.7 / 5.1.3 or later
Fixed in 3.10.174.4.75.1.3
Interim mitigation

Implement strict allowlisting of parameters in the pagination class, or strip all parameters except those explicitly required for pagination functionality before generating links.

Recommended fix High confidence

Joomla 3.10.17, 4.4.7, or 5.1.3 depending on your branch

  1. 1. Backup your Joomla database and files before upgrading.
  2. 2. Identify your current Joomla version in administrator dashboard under System > Information.
  3. 3. If running Joomla 3.x: upgrade to version 3.10.17.
  4. 4. If running Joomla 4.x: upgrade to version 4.4.7.
  5. 5. If running Joomla 5.x: upgrade to version 5.1.3.
  6. 6. Use Joomla's built-in updater (Components > Joomla Update) or manually upload the update package.
  7. 7. Clear any site caching after upgrade.
  8. 8. Verify the upgrade was successful and test pagination functionality.
Caveat Standard Joomla minor version upgrade; review changelog for any deprecated features

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
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,088.

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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-2024-27185 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