Joomla! 'highlight' Parameter PHP Object Injection Vulnerability

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2013 Greenbone AG
# Some text descriptions might be excerpted from (a) referenced
# source(s), and are Copyright (C) by the respective right holder(s).
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only

CPE = "cpe:/a:joomla:joomla";

if(description)
{
  script_oid("1.3.6.1.4.1.25623.1.0.103673");
  script_cve_id("CVE-2013-1453");
  script_tag(name:"cvss_base", value:"7.5");
  script_tag(name:"cvss_base_vector", value:"AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P");
  script_version("2026-04-30T06:27:06+0000");
  script_name("Joomla! 'highlight' Parameter PHP Object Injection Vulnerability");
  script_tag(name:"last_modification", value:"2026-04-30 06:27:06 +0000 (Thu, 30 Apr 2026)");
  script_tag(name:"creation_date", value:"2013-03-03 10:29:04 +0100 (Sun, 03 Mar 2013)");
  script_category(ACT_ATTACK);
  script_family("Web application abuses");
  script_copyright("Copyright (C) 2013 Greenbone AG");
  script_dependencies("joomla_http_detect.nasl");
  script_require_ports("Services/www", 80);
  script_mandatory_keys("joomla/detected");

  script_xref(name:"URL", value:"http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/57746");

  script_tag(name:"solution", value:"Vendor updates are available. Please see the references for
  more information.");

  script_tag(name:"summary", value:"Joomla! is prone to a remote PHP object-injection vulnerability
  because it fails to properly validate user-supplied input.");

  script_tag(name:"impact", value:"Attackers can exploit this issue to inject arbitrary object in to
  the application. This may aid in further attacks.");

  script_tag(name:"affected", value:"Joomla! 2.x prior to 2.5.9 and 3.x prior to 3.0.3.");

  script_tag(name:"qod", value:"50"); # prone to false positives
  script_tag(name:"solution_type", value:"VendorFix");

  exit(0);
}

include("http_func.inc");
include("host_details.inc");
include("http_keepalive.inc");

if(!port = get_app_port(cpe:CPE))
  exit(0);

if(!dir = get_app_location(cpe:CPE, port:port))
  exit(0);

if(dir == "/")
  dir = "";

url = dir + "/index.php?highlight=YToxOntpOjA7Tzo3OiJPcGVuVkFTIjowOnt9fQ==";

req = http_get(item:url, port:port);
buf = http_keepalive_send_recv(port:port, data:req, bodyonly:FALSE);

if(buf =~ "^HTTP/1\.[01] 500" || "Catchable fatal error: Object of class __PHP_Incomplete_Class could not be converted to string" >< buf) {
  report = http_report_vuln_url(port:port, url:url);
  security_message(port:port, data:report);
  exit(0);
}

exit(99);