Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2018-17422 is an open redirect issue in dotCMS before 5.0.2. A crafted link could send a user from a trusted dotCMS-hosted URL to another site. This mainly supports phishing, brand abuse, and user trust attacks rather than direct server compromise.
Executive priority
Treat this as a moderate-priority brand and phishing risk, especially for public-facing dotCMS sites. It is not described as remote code execution, but trusted-domain redirects can undermine customer and employee confidence.
Technical view
The CVE describes open redirects in dotCMS before 5.0.2 involving the forward_js.jsp FORWARD_URL parameter and page_preview_popup.jsp hostname parameter. The supplied sources do not provide CVSS, CWE, detailed affected CPEs, or exploit maturity data.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where public or user-accessible dotCMS instances run versions before 5.0.2 and expose the referenced JSP paths. The provided affected-product metadata is incomplete, so teams should verify actual dotCMS versions and routing configuration.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation evidence. The practical abuse case is social engineering: attackers could make malicious destinations appear to originate from a trusted dotCMS domain.
Researcher notes
Public evidence is sparse. The CVE identifies endpoints and parameters but provides no CVSS vector, CWE mapping, affected CPE list, or confirmed exploitation. Avoid assuming broader dotCMS components or downstream products are affected without vendor confirmation.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade dotCMS instances to 5.0.2 or later where applicable.
- Review the linked dotCMS issue for vendor-specific remediation context.
- Restrict or monitor access to affected JSP paths if upgrade timing is constrained.
- Educate support and security teams about phishing links using trusted domains.
Validation and detection
- Inventory internet-facing and internal dotCMS deployments.
- Confirm whether any deployment runs a version before 5.0.2.
- Check whether the referenced JSP paths are reachable in deployed environments.
- Review web logs for unusual redirects involving the named parameters.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CVE-2018-17422 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://github.com/dotCMS/core/issues/15286CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.