Summary
Potential CSV Injection vector in OctoberCMS
Workarounds
Apply https://github.com/octobercms/library/commit/c84bf03f506052c848f2fddc05f24be631427a1a & https://github.com/octobercms/october/commit/802d8c8e09a2b342649393edb6d3ceb958851484 to your installation manually if unable to upgrade to Build 466.
References
Reported by @chrisvidal initially & Sivanesh Ashok later.
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Email us at [email protected]
Threat assessment:
Given the number of hoops that a potential attacker would have to jump through, this vulnerability really boils down to the possibility of abusing the trust that a user may have in the export functionality of the project. Thus, this has been rated low severity as it requires vulnerabilities to also exist in other software used by any potential victims as well as successful social engineering attacks.
Impact
Any users with the ability to modify any data that could eventually be exported as a CSV file from the ImportExportController could potentially introduce a CSV injection into the data to cause the generated CSV export file to be malicious. This requires attackers to achieve the following before a successful attack can be completed:
- Have found a vulnerability in the victim's spreadsheet software of choice.
- Control data that would potentially be exported through the
ImportExportControllerby a theoretical victim. - Convince the victim to export above data as a CSV and run it in vulnerable spreadsheet software while also bypassing any sanity checks by said software.
Untrusted input is inserted into a command that is later executed by the application, allowing the attacker to alter the intent of that command. Typical impact: arbitrary command execution in the application's environment.
CVE-2020-5299 has a CVSS score of 4.0 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, high privileges required, and user interaction required. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (1.0.466); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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Issue has been patched in Build 466 (v1.0.466).
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2020-5299? CVE-2020-5299 is a medium-severity command injection vulnerability in october/backend (composer), affecting versions >= 1.0.319, < 1.0.466. It is fixed in 1.0.466. Untrusted input is inserted into a command that is later executed by the application, allowing the attacker to alter the intent of that command.
- How severe is CVE-2020-5299? CVE-2020-5299 has a CVSS score of 4.0 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Which versions of october/backend are affected by CVE-2020-5299? october/backend (composer) versions >= 1.0.319, < 1.0.466 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2020-5299? Yes. CVE-2020-5299 is fixed in 1.0.466. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2020-5299 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2020-5299 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2020-5299 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2020-5299? Upgrade
october/backendto 1.0.466 or later.