CVE-2024-5520
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 · uneditedTwo Cross-Site Scripting vulnerabilities have been discovered in Alkacon's OpenCMS affecting version 16, which could allow a user with sufficient privileges to create and modify web pages through the admin panel, can execute malicious JavaScript code, after inserting code in the “title” field.
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 confidenceStored XSS vulnerability in Alkacon OpenCMS v16 allows authenticated users with admin privileges to inject malicious JavaScript into the 'title' field when creating or modifying web pages through the admin panel. The injected script executes when other users view the affected pages.
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= 16.0.0CVSS 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
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
-
Confirm Alkacon OpenCMS installationCheck for OpenCMS files in the web application directory, typically found in /opencms or look for alkacon-related directories and JAR files in the application server's webapps folderAffected if Alkacon OpenCMS is not present on the system
-
Identify installed OpenCMS versionLocate the version information file or check the admin login page footer for the version number, or inspect the manifest file in the OpenCMS WEB-INF directoryAffected if The installed version is exactly 16.0.0
-
Verify admin panel accessibilityAttempt to access the OpenCMS admin panel via the /opencms/admin/ or /cms/admin/ endpoint and confirm administrative login is availableAffected if Admin panel is accessible and accepts authentication
-
Check for admin user accountsReview user management in the admin panel under 'Administration' > 'User Management' to identify users with administrator privilegesAffected if At least one admin-level user account exists in the system
-
Confirm web content creation accessIn the admin panel, navigate to the Page Editor or Site Manager module where pages are created or modified, specifically locate the 'title' field inputAffected if The title field is present in the page creation/modification interface and accepts user input
A system is affected if Alkacon OpenCMS version 16.0.0 is installed, the admin panel is accessible, and admin users can create or modify web pages containing a title field.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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.
From vendor dataImplement input validation and output encoding on the title field in the admin panel to sanitize user-supplied content before storage and before rendering.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-5520 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-5520 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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.
- 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