Summary
Kirby CMS has cross-site scripting (XSS) in the changes dialog
TL;DR
This vulnerability affects all Kirby 5 sites that might have potential attackers in the group of authenticated Panel users or that allow external visitors to update page titles or usernames.
The attack requires user interaction by another Panel user and cannot be automated.
Introduction
Cross-site scripting (XSS) is a type of vulnerability that allows to execute any kind of JavaScript code inside the Panel session of the same or other users. In the Panel, a harmful script can for example trigger requests to Kirby's API with the permissions of the victim.
Such vulnerabilities are critical if you might have potential attackers in your group of authenticated Panel users. They can escalate their privileges if they get access to the Panel session of an admin user. Depending on your site, other JavaScript-powered attacks are possible.
Impact
The "Changes" dialog in the Panel displays all content models (pages, files, users) with changed content, i.e. with content that has not yet been published. Each changed model is listed with its preview image/icon and its title/name.
Attackers could change the title of any page or the name of any user to a malicious string. Then they could modify any content field of the same model without saving, making the model a candidate for display in the "Changes" dialog. If another authenticated user subsequently opened the dialog in their Panel, the malicious code would be executed.
Untrusted input is rendered as active markup in a victim's browser, which can run script in their session. Typical impact: session or credential theft, and actions taken as the user.
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 5.1.4. Please update to this or a later version to fix the vulnerability.
In the patch release, we have added the required escaping code to signal to the browser the intent of displaying plain text instead of code in the places where the model titles are rendered.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2025-65012? CVE-2025-65012 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in getkirby/cms (composer), affecting versions >= 5.0.0, < 5.1.4. It is fixed in 5.1.4. Untrusted input is rendered as active markup in a victim's browser, which can run script in their session.
- Which versions of getkirby/cms are affected by CVE-2025-65012? getkirby/cms (composer) versions >= 5.0.0, < 5.1.4 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2025-65012? Yes. CVE-2025-65012 is fixed in 5.1.4. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2025-65012 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2025-65012 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-2025-65012 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-2025-65012? Upgrade
getkirby/cmsto 5.1.4 or later.