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CVE-2018-19274· NVD / CVE Program· CNA mitre

Passing an absolute path to a file_exists check in phpBB before 3.2.4 allows Remote Code Execution through Object Injection by employing Pha

Passing an absolute path to a file_exists check in phpBB before 3.2.4 allows Remote Code Execution through Object Injection by employing Phar deserialization when an attacker has access to the Admin Control Panel with founder permissions.

HighCVSS 7.2 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available
Published
Nov 17, 2018
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
5.2% · 92th percentile
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Report tools

JSON

Action score

30

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
28 / 40 · 7.2 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
2 / 30 · 5.2%

Affected systems

VendorProduct
phpbbphpbb
debiandebian linux

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • debian debian linux8.0
  • phpbb phpbbbefore 3.2.4

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:8phpbb3before 3.0.12-5+deb8u23.0.12-5+deb8u2
Packagistphpbb/phpbbbefore 3.2.43.2.4

Same product

phpbb: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2026-48611Improper authentication checks in the OAuth implementation allow account hijacking even when OAuth is not configured or enabled leading to u
    40Plan
  • CVE-2008-3224Unspecified vulnerability in phpBB before 3.0.1 has unknown impact and attack vectors related to "urls gone through redirect() being used wi
    40Plan
  • CVE-2008-1766Multiple unspecified vulnerabilities in phpBB before 3.0.1 have unknown impact and attack vectors, related to "two minor security-related bu
    40Plan
  • CVE-2001-1471prefs.php in phpBB 1.4.0 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to execute arbitrary PHP code via an invalid language value, which pr
    37Monitor
  • CVE-2025-70810Cross Site Request Forgery vulnerability in Phpbb phbb3 v.3.3.15 allows a local attacker to execute arbitrary code via the login function an
    35Monitor
  • CVE-2019-16993In phpBB before 3.1.7-PL1, includes/acp/acp_bbcodes.php has improper verification of a CSRF token on the BBCode page in the Administration C
    35Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
debian:phpbb33.0.12-5+deb8u2 · Debian:8Package registry (OSV)
Packagist:phpbb/phpbb3.2.4Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

The product’s vendor appears in a public program. Matched by name; verify the scope text in the program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • Administrator privileges are required.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-502 · Deserialization of Untrusted Data

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd-primary

Root cause

Data received over the network is deserialized into the language’s native object format without verifying its source. Code paths inside the object can be triggered during deserialization.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-502 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

python
payload = sock.recv(65536)job = pickle.loads(payload)

Fixed

python
payload = sock.recv(65536)if not hmac.compare_digest(sign(payload), header_sig):    raise PermissionError("invalid signature")job = JobSchema.validate(json.loads(payload))

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

ATT&CK techniques

—

Noroxi analysis

No Noroxi analysis for this record yet

We don't hand-write analysis for all 385,000+ vulnerabilities; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.

We use this product, ask for help

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

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References

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records