CVE-2023-53978VulnerabilityPublished 22 Dec 2025Updated 30 Dec 2025

CVE-2023-53978: myBB forums · Cross-site Scripting

Affects myBB forumsSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.1 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score

5.1Medium

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

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 14% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:P/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Attack Requirements: None
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: Passive
Vulnerable system confidentiality: Low
Vulnerable system integrity: Low
Vulnerable system availability: None
Subsequent system confidentiality: Low
Subsequent system integrity: Low
Subsequent system availability: None

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

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable system is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed below, 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: The attacker must take no measurable action to exploit the vulnerability. The attack requires no target-specific circumvention to exploit the vulnerability. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: None: The successful attack does not depend on the deployment and execution conditions of the vulnerable system. The attacker can expect to be able to reach the vulnerability and execute the exploit under all or most instances of the vulnerability.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker requires privileges that provide basic capabilities that are typically limited to settings and resources owned by a single low-privileged user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges has the ability to access only non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: Passive: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires limited interaction by the targeted user with the vulnerable system and the attacker’s payload. These interactions would be considered involuntary and do not require that the user actively subvert protections built into the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system 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 Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system 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 to the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system 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 Subsequent System.
Subsequent system 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 to the Subsequent System.
Subsequent system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Subsequent System or all availability impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v4.0 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 22 Dec 2025
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 2026-10-26.

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 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

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Mybb myBB forums	Affected =1.8.26	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2023-53978, European organizations should first upgrade myBB forums to a version where this vulnerability is patched once available. In the absence of an official patch, implement strict input validation and output encoding on the announcement title field to neutralize any script tags or event handlers. Limit administrator access strictly to trusted personnel and enforce strong authentication mechanisms, including multi-factor authentication, to reduce the risk of compromised admin accounts. Regularly audit forum announcements for suspicious or unexpected content. Employ Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to restrict the execution of unauthorized scripts in users' browsers. Additionally, monitor forum logs for unusual administrative activity and educate administrators about the risks of injecting untrusted content. Consider isolating the forum environment and restricting network access to reduce exposure. Finally, maintain up-to-date backups and incident response plans to quickly recover from any exploitation attempts.

Description

myBB Forums 1.8.26 contains a stored cross-site scripting vulnerability in the forum announcement system that allows authenticated administrators to inject malicious scripts when creating announcements. Attackers can exploit this vulnerability by inserting script payloads in the announcement title field when adding announcements through the 'Forums and Posts' > 'Forum Announcements' interface, causing arbitrary JavaScript to execute when the announcement is displayed on the forum.

Impact

For European organizations using myBB forums version 1.8.26, this vulnerability poses a risk primarily to the confidentiality and integrity of user sessions and data. Exploitation could allow attackers to execute arbitrary JavaScript in the browsers of forum users, potentially leading to session hijacking, theft of authentication tokens, or redirection to malicious sites. This could undermine trust in the forum platform, disrupt community interactions, and expose sensitive user information. Although the vulnerability requires administrator privileges to inject malicious code, compromised or malicious administrators could exploit it to target users. The impact on availability is limited, as the vulnerability does not directly enable denial of service. However, reputational damage and user attrition could indirectly affect organizational operations. European organizations with active online communities, especially those relying on myBB forums for customer or internal communications, should consider this a significant risk. The absence of known exploits in the wild reduces immediate threat but does not eliminate the risk of future attacks. The medium severity rating reflects the balance between required privileges and potential damage.

References

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