CVE-2017-12061 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.1) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in mantisbt/mantisbt. A fix is available for mantisbt/mantisbt — see the affected versions and patch details below.
MantisBT XSS allows unsanitized input via admin/install.php
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2017-12061 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 378,156 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
mantisbt/mantisbt🐘mantisbt/mantisbtReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
An XSS issue was discovered in admin/install.php in MantisBT before 1.3.12 and 2.x before 2.5.2. Some variables under user control in the MantisBT installation script are not properly sanitized before being output, allowing remote attackers to inject arbitrary JavaScript code, as demonstrated by the $f_database, $f_db_username, and $f_admin_username variables. This is mitigated by the fact that the admin/ folder should be deleted after installation, and also prevented by CSP.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | mantisbt/mantisbt | all versions | 1.3.12composer require mantisbt/mantisbt:^1.3.12 |
| 🐘Packagist | mantisbt/mantisbt | ≥ 2.0.0&&< 2.5.2 | 2.5.2composer require mantisbt/mantisbt:^2.5.2 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for mantisbt/mantisbt, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update mantisbt/mantisbt to 1.3.12 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2017-12061 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2017-12061 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2017-12061. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2017-12061 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2017-12061 across Packagist dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.