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Joomla\!Application · Joomla

CVE-2026-21630

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-04-01
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.4.4 / 6.0.4 or later.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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
Improperly built order clauses lead to a SQL injection vulnerability in the articles webservice endpoint.

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 SQL injection vulnerability exists in the articles webservice endpoint where improperly constructed ORDER BY clauses allow attacker-controlled input to be concatenated directly into SQL queries. This enables injection of malicious SQL code through order parameter values.

MitigationImplement parameterized queries or prepared statements for ORDER BY clauses, or alternatively use an input allowlist to validate only permitted column names for ordering.

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, < 5.4.4>= 6.0.0, < 6.0.4

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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. Check Joomla version
    Access the administrator backend and navigate to System > About Joomla, or check the version.php file in the Joomla root directory
    Affected if Version is >= 3.0.0 and < 5.4.4, OR >= 6.0.0 and < 6.0.4
  2. Verify articles webservice endpoint is accessible
    Confirm the com_content articles API endpoint is enabled and reachable (typically at /api/index.php/v1/content/articles)
    Affected if The webservice endpoint is publicly or internally accessible without additional authentication beyond standard API configuration
  3. Identify use of order parameter in API calls
    Review API requests to the articles endpoint and check if the 'order' query parameter is being used to sort results
    Affected if The order parameter is used with user-supplied or externally influenced values without validation against an allowlist of permitted column names
  4. Confirm lack of input validation on order parameter
    Test the endpoint by sending requests with arbitrary SQL expressions in the order parameter (e.g., order=title ASC)
    Affected if The API accepts and processes SQL expressions directly in the order parameter without sanitization or parameterization

You are affected if your Joomla version falls within the vulnerable ranges AND the articles webservice endpoint is accessible AND the order parameter accepts unsanitized input for sorting.

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 5.4.4 / 6.0.4 or later
Fixed in 5.4.46.0.4
Interim mitigation

Implement parameterized queries or prepared statements for ORDER BY clauses, or alternatively use an input allowlist to validate only permitted column names for ordering.

Recommended fix High confidence

Joomla! 5.4.4 or Joomla! 6.0.4 (depending on your current major version branch)

  1. 1. Create a full backup of the Joomla site including files and database
  2. 2. Identify your current Joomla version (3.x, 5.x, or 6.x) to determine the correct upgrade path
  3. 3. For Joomla 3.x users: Upgrade to Joomla 5.4.4 (LTS) or 6.0.4 (if moving to Joomla 6) following Joomla's migration guide
  4. 4. For Joomla 5.x users: Upgrade to Joomla 5.4.4
  5. 5. For Joomla 6.x users: Upgrade to Joomla 6.0.4
  6. 6. Download the appropriate update package from downloads.joomla.org
  7. 7. Install the update via Joomla's Update component or manual installation
  8. 8. Clear any site caches after upgrade
Caveat Review Joomla 5.4.4 and 6.0.4 release notes for any breaking changes or backward compatibility notices before upgrading

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

Fix this in Joomla\! Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
21.0 hours of engineering $3,680
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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-2026-21630 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