CVE-2018-16514 is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.7) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in mantisbt/mantisbt. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for mantisbt/mantisbt — see the affected versions and patch details below.
MantisBT cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability through crafted PATH_INFO
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
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
A cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the View Filters page (view_filters_page.php) and Edit Filter page (manage_filter_edit_page.php) in MantisBT 2.1.0 through 2.17.0 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary code (if CSP settings permit it) through a crafted PATH_INFO. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2018-13055.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | mantisbt/mantisbt | ≥ 2.1.0&&< 2.17.1 | 2.17.1composer require mantisbt/mantisbt:^2.17.1 |
Affected Products
mantisbtmantisbtResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
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 2.17.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2018-16514 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Escape or sanitise the affected output on the server side rather than relying on client-side filtering, and add a Content-Security-Policy that blocks inline script execution so injected markup cannot run even if it reaches the page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2018-16514 in your dependencies?
Find it across Packagist, including transitive dependencies.