Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2018-9106 affects the Acyba AcySMS Joomla extension before 3.5.1. A mishandled value in CSV export can become a spreadsheet formula when opened by staff, creating a social-engineering risk around exported data.
Executive priority
Prioritize remediation where AcySMS exports are used by finance, operations, or administrative staff. This is not rated with CVSS in the source bundle, but public exploit information and spreadsheet trust make it operationally relevant.
Technical view
The issue is CSV injection, also called formula injection, in AcySMS export handling before version 3.5.1. User-controlled or stored values may be written into CSV output without safe neutralization, allowing spreadsheet software to interpret them as formulas when opened.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to Joomla installations using Acyba AcySMS versions before 3.5.1 and workflows where administrators or staff open exported CSV files in spreadsheet tools.
Exploitation context
The CVE references a public Exploit-DB entry, so public exploit information exists. The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or confirmed active exploitation in the wild.
Researcher notes
The CVE record names Acyba AcySMS before 3.5.1, but structured affected CPE data is absent. Validate exposure through installed extension versions and export behavior rather than relying on automated CPE matching alone.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade AcySMS to version 3.5.1 or later where applicable.
- Check Acyba vendor guidance and changelog for the exact fixed release details.
- Restrict CSV export access to trusted administrative users.
- Treat exported CSV files as untrusted until the extension is confirmed fixed.
- Train staff to avoid enabling spreadsheet prompts from exported CSV files.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Joomla sites for the AcySMS extension.
- Confirm installed AcySMS versions are 3.5.1 or later.
- Identify roles or users allowed to export CSV data.
- Review export workflows where staff open CSV files in spreadsheets.
- Inspect CSV output safely for formula-leading values in exported fields.
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
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CVE-2018-9106 mapping review
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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
- 44370CVE reference · exploit, x_refsource_EXPLOIT-DB
- https://www.acyba.com/acysms/change-log.htmlCVE 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.