Joomla! < 3.8.13 RCE Vulnerability

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2018 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("1.3.6.1.4.1.25623.1.0.141583");
  script_version("2026-04-30T06:27:06+0000");
  script_tag(name:"last_modification", value:"2026-04-30 06:27:06 +0000 (Thu, 30 Apr 2026)");
  script_tag(name:"creation_date", value:"2018-10-10 14:51:37 +0700 (Wed, 10 Oct 2018)");
  script_tag(name:"cvss_base", value:"6.5");
  script_tag(name:"cvss_base_vector", value:"AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P");
  script_tag(name:"severity_vector", value:"CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H");
  script_tag(name:"severity_origin", value:"NVD");
  script_tag(name:"severity_date", value:"2020-08-24 17:37:00 +0000 (Mon, 24 Aug 2020)");

  script_cve_id("CVE-2018-17856");

  script_tag(name:"solution_type", value:"VendorFix");

  script_tag(name:"qod_type", value:"remote_banner");

  script_name("Joomla! < 3.8.13 RCE Vulnerability");

  script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
  script_copyright("Copyright (C) 2018 Greenbone AG");
  script_family("Web application abuses");
  script_dependencies("joomla_http_detect.nasl");
  script_mandatory_keys("joomla/detected");

  script_tag(name:"summary", value:"com_joomlaupdate allows the execution of arbitrary code. The default ACL
config enabled the ability of Administrator-level users to access com_joomlaupdate and trigger code execution.");

  script_tag(name:"vuldetect", value:"Checks if a vulnerable version is present on the target host.");

  script_tag(name:"affected", value:"Joomla! CMS versions 2.5.4 through 3.8.12.");

  script_tag(name:"solution", value:"Update to version 3.8.13 or later.");

  script_xref(name:"URL", value:"https://developer.joomla.org/security-centre/752-20181002-core-inadequate-default-access-level-for-com-joomlaupdate.html");

  exit(0);
}

include("host_details.inc");
include("version_func.inc");

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

if (!infos = get_app_version_and_location(cpe: CPE, port: port, exit_no_version: TRUE))
  exit(0);

version = infos["version"];
path = infos["location"];

if (version_in_range(version: version, test_version: "2.5.4", test_version2: "3.8.12")) {
  report = report_fixed_ver(installed_version: version, fixed_version: "3.8.13", install_path: path);
  security_message(port: port, data: report);
  exit(0);
}

exit(99);