VulnerabilityPublished 28 Mar 2023Updated 3 Nov 2025

CVE-2023-28447: smarty · Cross-site Scripting

Affects smartySource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.1 High : upgrade to 3.1.48 soon.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 10:12 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.1High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 1.0% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 63% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 3.1.48

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: Low
Integrity: Low
Availability: Low

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
Confidentiality: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 28 Mar 2023
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade smarty-php/smarty to 3.1.48.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Packagistsmarty-php/smarty`pkg:composer/smarty-php/smarty`Other threats	Affected <3.1.48	Fixed in 3.1.48

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

The primary and most effective mitigation is to upgrade Smarty to version 3.1.48 or 4.3.1, where the vulnerability has been patched. Organizations should audit their web applications to identify all instances of Smarty usage and verify the versions in deployment. Where immediate upgrading is not feasible, developers should review template code to ensure proper escaping of all user-supplied input, particularly within JavaScript contexts, although this is a complex and error-prone approach. Implementing Content Security Policy (CSP) headers can help mitigate the impact of XSS by restricting the execution of unauthorized scripts. Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) configured to detect and block XSS payloads may provide temporary protection but should not be relied upon as a sole defense. Regular security testing, including automated scanning and manual code reviews focusing on template rendering, should be conducted. User education to recognize phishing attempts and suspicious links can reduce the risk of exploitation. Finally, monitoring web application logs for unusual activity or script injection attempts can help detect exploitation attempts early.

Description

Smarty is a template engine for PHP. In affected versions smarty did not properly escape javascript code. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary JavaScript code in the context of the user's browser session. This may lead to unauthorized access to sensitive user data, manipulation of the web application's behavior, or unauthorized actions performed on behalf of the user. Users are advised to upgrade to either version 3.1.48 or to 4.3.1 to resolve this issue. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a significant risk particularly to those relying on Smarty for rendering dynamic web content. Exploitation could lead to data breaches involving personal data protected under GDPR, resulting in regulatory penalties and reputational damage. Attackers could hijack user sessions, steal credentials, or perform unauthorized transactions, impacting e-commerce platforms, financial services, and public sector portals. The integrity of web applications could be compromised, leading to misinformation or unauthorized changes in application behavior. Availability impacts may arise if attackers use XSS to inject malicious scripts that disrupt user interactions or launch further attacks such as drive-by downloads or malware distribution. The risk is amplified in sectors with high web traffic and sensitive user data, including healthcare, government, and retail. Additionally, the cross-site scripting nature means that even trusted users of the affected applications can be targeted, increasing the attack surface. The lack of known exploits in the wild provides a window for proactive mitigation before widespread exploitation occurs.

CWE-79Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #1OWASP Top 10 A05:2025: Injection (opens in a new tab)
The product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes user-controllable input before it is placed in output that is used as a web page that is served to other users.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
Implementation · Architecture and Design
Understand the context in which your data will be used and the encoding that will be expected. This is especially important when transmitting data between different components, or when generating outputs that can contain multiple encodings at the same time, such as web pages or multi-part mail messages.
Architecture and Design · Implementation · Attack Surface Reduction
Understand all the potential areas where untrusted inputs can enter your software: parameters or arguments, cookies, anything read from the network, environment variables, reverse DNS lookups, query results, request headers, URL components, e-mail, files, filenames, databases, and any external systems that provide…
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Cross Site Scripting Prevention (opens in a new tab)
DOM based XSS Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Injection Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
Deserialization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V5.3.3 (opens in a new tab)
V1.5.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
XSS Using MIME Type Mismatch (opens in a new tab)
DOM-Based XSS (opens in a new tab)
Reflected XSS (opens in a new tab)
Stored XSS (opens in a new tab)
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 4 Nov 2025, 00:12 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-79

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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