Phpbb
CVE-2023-5917
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 6.1 (MEDIUM). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no 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. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in phpBB up to 3.3.10.php of the component Smiley Pack Handler. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, 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. A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in phpBB up to 3.3.10.php of the component Smiley Pack Handler. The manipulation of the argument pak leads to cross site scripting. The attack may be initiated remotely. Upgrading to version 3.3.11 is able to address this issue. The patch is named ccf6e6c255d38692d72fcb613b113e6eaa240aac. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component. The associated identifier of this vulnerability is VDB-244307. Affected products include: Phpbb. Version information: up to 3.3.10..
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in phpBB up to 3.3.10. This issue affects the function main of the file phpBB/includes/acp/acp_icons.php of the component Smiley Pack Handler. The manipulation of the argument pak leads to cross site scripting. The attack may be initiated remotely. Upgrading to version 3.3.11 is able to address this issue. The patch is named ccf6e6c255d38692d72fcb613b113e6eaa240aac. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component. The associated identifier of this vulnerability is VDB-244307.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub
VulDB
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
Account hijacking in phpBB is possible due to improper authentication checks in the OAuth implementation, affecting defa
Passing an absolute path to a file_exists check in phpBB before 3.2.4 allows Remote Code Execution through Object Inject
phpBB version 3.2.7 allows the stealing of an Administration Control Panel session id by leveraging CSRF in the Remote A
In phpBB before 3.1.7-PL1, includes/acp/acp_bbcodes.php has improper verification of a CSRF token on the BBCode page in
Reflected cross-site scripting in phpBB's registration module allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to execute scrip
Host header injection in phpBB versions 3.0.0 through 3.3.15 enables password reset link poisoning when force_server_var
Account takeover in phpBB via OAuth state-verification flaw enables remote attackers to link a victim's forum account to
The fulltext search component in phpBB before 3.2.6 allows Denial of Service. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulne
Privilege escalation in phpBB allows an authenticated administrator with limited rights to grant themselves permissions
The message_options function in includes/ucp/ucp_pm_options.php in phpBB before 3.0.13 does not properly validate the fo
phpBB 3.2.8 allows a CSRF attack that can approve pending group memberships. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vuln
Open redirect vulnerability in phpBB before 3.0.14 and 3.1.x before 3.1.4 allows remote attackers to redirect users of G
Exploit-DB