CVE-2024-4447VulnerabilityPublished 26 Jul 2024Updated 24 Feb 2026

CVE-2024-4447: dotCMS core · Incorrect Authorization

Affects dotCMS coreSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 9.9 Critical · fixed in 24.07.12 : patch dotCMS core as a priority.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

9.9Critical

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

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 40% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 24.07.12

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
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: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
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: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to 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 26 Jul 2024
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 2026-10-25.

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
Mavencom.dotcms/dotcms-core`pkg:maven/com.dotcms/dotcms-core`Other threats	Affected =4.2.1	Fixed in–

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

AI-suggested

1. Immediately upgrade dotCMS core to the fixed versions: 24.07.12, 23.01.20 LTS, 23.10.24v13 LTS, or 24.04.24v5 LTS as applicable. 2. Restrict administrative access strictly to trusted personnel and enforce the principle of least privilege, ensuring only necessary admins have elevated rights. 3. Audit and monitor usage of 'Sign In As' and other privileged functions to detect anomalous activity. 4. Disable or restrict access to DWR endpoints if not required, or implement network-level controls such as IP whitelisting and web application firewalls to limit exposure. 5. Implement robust logging and alerting on role permission changes and session management activities to detect potential abuse. 6. Conduct regular reviews of user roles and permissions to identify and remediate excessive privileges. 7. Educate administrators on the risks of session ID exposure and the importance of secure session handling. 8. Consider deploying runtime application self-protection (RASP) or endpoint detection solutions to identify exploitation attempts. 9. Perform penetration testing and vulnerability scanning post-patching to verify remediation and detect any residual issues.

Description

In the System → Maintenance tool, the Logged Users tab surfaces sessionId data for all users via the Direct Web Remoting API (UserSessionAjax.getSessionList.dwr) calls. While this is information that would and should be available to admins who possess "Sign In As" powers, admins who otherwise lack this privilege would still be able to utilize the session IDs to imitate other users. While this is a very small attack vector that requires very high permissions to execute, its danger lies principally in obfuscating attribution; all Sign In As operations are attributed appropriately in the log files, and a malicious administrator could use this information to render their dealings untraceable — including those admins who have not been granted this ability — such as by using a session ID to generate an API token. Fixed in: 24.07.12 / 23.01.20 LTS / 23.10.24v13 LTS / 24.04.24v5 LTS This was the original found by researcher Zakaria Agharghar.2. Later, on October 20, 2025, another researcher (Chris O’Neill) found additional affected DWR Endpoints that are vulnerable to Information Disclosure, namely and in addition to the original found of "UserSessionAjax.getSessionList.dwr - Session ID exposure": * UserAjax.getUsersList.dwr - Enumerate all users with IDs, names, emails * RoleAjax.getUserRole.dwr - Get user role information * RoleAjax.getRole.dwr - Get role details * RoleAjax.getRolePermissions.dwr - View role permissions * RoleAjax.isPermissionableInheriting.dwr - Check permission inheritance * RoleAjax.getCurrentCascadePermissionsJobs.dwr - View permission cascade jobs * ThreadMonitorTool.getThreads.dwr - Monitor system threads; and, * CRITICAL - Privilege Escalation: RoleAjax.saveRolePermission.dwr - Modify role permissions Overall CVSS for the above findings: * CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L https://www.first.org/cvss/calculator/3.1#CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L * Score: 9.1 (Critical)

Impact

The vulnerability poses a severe risk to organizations using dotCMS core, especially those running affected versions. Attackers with limited administrative privileges can impersonate other users, including high-privilege accounts, leading to unauthorized access to sensitive content and administrative functions. The ability to modify role permissions enables privilege escalation, potentially granting full control over the CMS environment. This can result in data breaches, unauthorized content manipulation, disruption of services, and loss of trust. The obfuscation of attribution complicates incident response and forensic investigations, allowing malicious insiders or compromised admins to evade detection. Given dotCMS's use in enterprise content management, e-commerce, and digital experience platforms, exploitation could impact confidentiality, integrity, and availability of critical business data and services. The network-exploitable nature means attackers can leverage this vulnerability remotely, increasing the attack surface. Organizations face risks including compliance violations, reputational damage, and operational disruption.

Summary

CVE-2024-4447 identifies a critical incorrect authorization vulnerability (CWE-863) in dotCMS core, specifically affecting version 4.2.1 and certain LTS versions. The initial issue involves the System → Maintenance tool's Logged Users tab exposing sessionId data for all users through the Direct Web Remoting (DWR) API endpoint UserSessionAjax.getSessionList.dwr. While session information should be restricted to administrators with 'Sign In As' privileges, the flaw allows any admin, even those lacking this privilege, to obtain session IDs and impersonate other users by hijacking sessions or generating API tokens. This undermines audit logs and attribution, enabling malicious admins to conceal unauthorized actions. Subsequently, additional DWR endpoints were found vulnerable to information disclosure, including UserAjax.getUsersList.dwr (user enumeration), RoleAjax.getUserRole.dwr, RoleAjax.getRole.dwr, RoleAjax.getRolePermissions.dwr, RoleAjax.isPermissionableInheriting.dwr, RoleAjax.getCurrentCascadePermissionsJobs.dwr (role and permission details), and ThreadMonitorTool.getThreads.dwr (system thread monitoring). Critically, RoleAjax.saveRolePermission.dwr allows privilege escalation by modifying role permissions without proper authorization. The combined vulnerabilities allow attackers with limited admin privileges to escalate access, harvest sensitive user and role information, and evade detection. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L) yields a score of 9.9, reflecting network exploitable, low complexity, requiring low privileges but no user interaction, with a scope change and high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The vulnerability was responsibly disclosed and fixed in dotCMS versions 24.07.12, 23.01.20 LTS, 23.10.24v13 LTS, and 24.04.24v5 LTS.

CWE-863Incorrect Authorization (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #17OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check.
Architecture and Design
Divide the product into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries.
Architecture and Design
Ensure that access control checks are performed related to the business logic. These checks may be different than the access control checks that are applied to more generic resources such as files, connections, processes, memory, and database records.
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.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.2 (opens in a new tab)
V7.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

dotcms.com/security/SI-72 (opens in a new tab)

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 24 Feb 2026, 21:27 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-863

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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