CVE-2023-44382 — october/system
CRITICALCVE-2023-44382 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.1) Code Injection vulnerability in october/system. A fix is available for october/system — see the affected versions and patch details below.
October CMS safe mode bypass using Twig sandbox escape
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-2023-44382 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
october/systemReal-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
Impact
An authenticated backend user with the editor.cms_pages, editor.cms_layouts, or editor.cms_partials permissions who would normally not be permitted to provide PHP code to be executed by the CMS due to cms.safe_mode being enabled can write specific Twig code to escape the Twig sandbox and execute arbitrary PHP.
This is not a problem for anyone who trusts their users with those permissions to usually write and manage PHP within the CMS by not having cms.safe_mode enabled. Still, it would be a problem for anyone relying on cms.safe_mode to ensure that users with those permissions in production do not have access to write and execute arbitrary PHP.
Patches
This issue has been patched in v3.4.15.
Workarounds
As a workaround, remove the specified permissions from untrusted users.
References
Credits to:
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Email us at [email protected]
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | october/system | ≥ 3.0.0&&< 3.4.15 | 3.4.15composer require october/system:^3.4.15 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for october/system, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update october/system to 3.4.15 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-44382 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-2023-44382 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2023-44382. 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-2023-44382 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-44382 across Packagist dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.