Summary
Kirby has insufficient permission checks in the language settings
TL;DR
This vulnerability affects all Kirby sites with enabled languages option that might have potential attackers in the group of authenticated Panel users.
If you have disabled the languages and/or api option and don't call any methods in your code that cause a write access to languages (language creation, update or deletion), your site is not affected.
Introduction
Kirby allows to restrict the permissions of specific user roles. Users of that role can only perform permitted actions.
Permissions for creating and deleting languages have already existed and could be configured, but were not enforced by Kirby's frontend or backend code.
A permission for updating existing languages has not existed before the patched versions. So disabling the languages.* wildcard permission for a role could not have prohibited updates to existing language definitions.
Credits
Thanks to Sebastian Eberlein of JUNO (@SebastianEberlein-JUNO) for reporting the identified issue.
Impact
The missing permission checks allowed attackers with Panel access to manipulate the language definitions.
The language definitions are at the core of multi-language content in Kirby. Unauthorized modifications with malicious intent can cause significant damage, for example:
- If the
languagesoption was enabled but no language exists, creating the first language will switch Kirby to multi-language mode. - Deleting an existing language will lead to content loss of all translated content in that language. Deleting the last language will switch Kirby to single-language mode.
- Updating a language allows to change the metadata including the language slug (used in page URLs) and language variables. It also allows to change the default language, which will cause Kirby to use the new default language's content as a fallback for non-existing translations.
Depending on the site code, the result of such actions can cause loss of site availability (e.g. error messages in the site frontend) or integrity (due to changed URLs or removed translations).
The application does not correctly enforce access controls, allowing a principal to access resources or operations beyond their granted permissions. Typical impact: unauthorized data access or execution of privileged operations.
CVE-2024-41964 has a CVSS score of 8.1 (High). The vector is network-reachable, low privileges required, and no user interaction. 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 (3.6.6.6, 3.7.5.5, 3.8.4.4, 3.9.8.2, 3.10.1.1, 4.3.1); 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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The problem has been patched in Kirby 3.6.6.6, Kirby 3.7.5.5, Kirby 3.8.4.4, Kirby 3.9.8.2, Kirby 3.10.1.1, and Kirby 4.3.1. Please update to one of these or a later version to fix the vulnerability.
In all of the mentioned releases, we have added checks for the languages.create and languages.delete permissions that ensure that users without those permissions cannot perform the respective actions. We have also added a new languages.update permission.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2024-41964? CVE-2024-41964 is a high-severity incorrect authorization vulnerability in getkirby/cms (composer), affecting versions <= 3.6.6.5. It is fixed in 3.6.6.6, 3.7.5.5, 3.8.4.4, 3.9.8.2, 3.10.1.1, 4.3.1. The application does not correctly enforce access controls, allowing a principal to access resources or operations beyond their granted permissions.
- How severe is CVE-2024-41964? CVE-2024-41964 has a CVSS score of 8.1 (High). 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 getkirby/cms are affected by CVE-2024-41964? getkirby/cms (composer) versions <= 3.6.6.5 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2024-41964? Yes. CVE-2024-41964 is fixed in 3.6.6.6, 3.7.5.5, 3.8.4.4, 3.9.8.2, 3.10.1.1, 4.3.1. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2024-41964 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2024-41964 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-2024-41964 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-2024-41964?
- Upgrade
getkirby/cmsto 3.6.6.6 or later - Upgrade
getkirby/cmsto 3.7.5.5 or later - Upgrade
getkirby/cmsto 3.8.4.4 or later - Upgrade
getkirby/cmsto 3.9.8.2 or later - Upgrade
getkirby/cmsto 3.10.1.1 or later - Upgrade
getkirby/cmsto 4.3.1 or later
- Upgrade