Kirby
CVE-2023-38491
MEDIUM
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A05:2025 - Injection
ASVS 5.0
V1 - Encoding and Sanitization Output encoding, context-aware escaping
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Initial Access, Execution The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 5.4 (MEDIUM). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, user interaction required. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users by sending crafted requests to the affected application. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
Kirby is a content management system. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.4), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. This Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability could allow attackers to inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Sanitize all user input, use Content-Security-Policy headers, encode output contextually (HTML, JS, URL). Use frameworks with built-in XSS protection.
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in composer
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) (CWE-79), which allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users. Kirby is a content management system. A vulnerability in versions prior to 3.5.8.3, 3.6.6.3, 3.7.5.2, 3.8.4.1, and 3.9.6 affects all Kirby sites that might have potential attackers in the group of authenticated Panel users or that allow external visitors to upload an arbitrary file to the content folder. Kirby sites are not affected if they don't allow file uploads for untrusted users or visitors or if the file extensions of uploaded files are limited to a fixed safe list. The attack requires user interaction by another user or visitor and cannot be automated. An editor with write access to the Kirby Panel could upload a file with an unknown file extension like .xyz that contains HTML code including harmful content like <script> tags. The direct link to that file could be sent to other users or visitors of the site. If the victim opened that link in a browser where they are logged in to Kirby and the file had not been opened by anyone since the upload, Kirby would not be able to send the correct MIME content type, instead falling back to text/html. The browser would then run the script, which could for example trigger requests to Kirby's API with the permissions of the victim. The issue was caused by the underlying Kirby\Http\Response::file() method, which didn't have an explicit fallback if the MIME type could not be determined from the file extension. If you use this method in site or plugin code, these uses may be affected by the same vulnerability. The problem has been patched in Kirby 3.5.8.3, 3.6.6.3, 3.7.5.2, 3.8.4.1, and 3.9.6. In all of the mentioned releases, the maintainers have fixed the affected method to use a fallback MIME type of text/plain and set the X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff header if the MIME type of the file is unknown. Affected products include: Getkirby Kirby. Version information: prior to 3.5.8.3.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
Kirby is a content management system. A vulnerability in versions prior to 3.5.8.3, 3.6.6.3, 3.7.5.2, 3.8.4.1, and 3.9.6 affects all Kirby sites that might have potential attackers in the group of authenticated Panel users or that allow external visitors to upload an arbitrary file to the content folder. Kirby sites are not affected if they don't allow file uploads for untrusted users or visitors or if the file extensions of uploaded files are limited to a fixed safe list. The attack requires user interaction by another user or visitor and cannot be automated.
An editor with write access to the Kirby Panel could upload a file with an unknown file extension like .xyz that contains HTML code including harmful content like <script> tags. The direct link to that file could be sent to other users or visitors of the site. If the victim opened that link in a browser where they are logged in to Kirby and the file had not been opened by anyone since the upload, Kirby would not be able to send the correct MIME content type, instead falling back to text/html. The browser would then run the script, which could for example trigger requests to Kirby's API with the permissions of the victim.
The issue was caused by the underlying Kirby\Http\Response::file() method, which didn't have an explicit fallback if the MIME type could not be determined from the file extension. If you use this method in site or plugin code, these uses may be affected by the same vulnerability.
The problem has been patched in Kirby 3.5.8.3, 3.6.6.3, 3.7.5.2, 3.8.4.1, and 3.9.6. In all of the mentioned releases, the maintainers have fixed the affected method to use a fallback MIME type of text/plain and set the X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff header if the MIME type of the file is unknown.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Cross-Site Scripting occurs when an application accepts untrusted data and sends it to a web browser without proper validation or encoding.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
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An HTML injection vulnerability exists in the Edit Content Layout module of Kirby CMS v4.1.0. Rated high severity (CVSS
Kirby is an open-source content management system. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.3), this vulnerability is remotely expl
A stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the Edit Content Layout module of Kirby CMS v4.1.0 allows attackers
panel/login in Kirby v2.5.12 allows Host header injection via the "forget password" feature. Rated medium severity (CVSS
Kirby is a content management system. Rated critical severity (CVSS 10.0), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, n
Kirby is an open source CMS. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.4), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack co
panel/login in Kirby v2.5.12 allows XSS via a blog name. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.4), this vulnerability is remotel
Kirby is a CMS. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. T
Kirby is a content management system. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low at
Kirby v2.5.12 allows XSS by using the "site files" Add option to upload an SVG file. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.8), t
Kirby CMS v4.1.0 was discovered to contain a reflected self-XSS vulnerability via the URL parameter. Rated medium severi
NVD
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EPSS
GitHub
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