GHSA-4j78-4xrm-cr2f
Kirby is missing permission checks in the content changes API
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.
Blast Radius
getkirby/cmsReal-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
TL;DR
This vulnerability affects all Kirby sites where user permissions are configured to prevent specific role(s) from performing write actions, specifically by disabling the update permission with the intent to prevent modifications to site content.
If developers haven't configured any user permissions that deviate from the default of allowing all actions, their site is not affected.
Introduction
Kirby allows to restrict the permissions of specific user roles. Users of that role can only perform permitted actions.
Permissions for updating content have already existed and could be configured for each model type, but were not enforced by Kirby's API backend code during operations to the changes version.
The changes version is the content version that contains unsaved changes of existing models (pages, users, files or the site).
Impact
The missing permission checks allowed attackers with Panel access to create or discard a changes version or update the content fields in an existing changes version. All of these actions could affect arbitrary models.
This could cause the following impact:
- Attackers could maliciously create changes versions for all models of the site, creating editing locks that would prevent other authenticated users from making content changes until those locks were cleared.
- Attackers could update the content in a malicious way, for example by adding defamatory or spam content or by including malicious links or scripts. While this updated content would not immediately be published to the site, an inattentive editor with update permissions could inadvertently publish these changes in the belief that an authorized user has made them.
- Attackers could discard extensive changes, making editors lose their content work.
Patches
The problem has been patched in Kirby 5.2.2. Please update to this or a later version to fix the vulnerability.
In the mentioned release, we have added checks for the model update permissions that ensure that users without this permission cannot create, edit or discard the changes version of the respective model.
A future Kirby release will add separate edit and save permissions that will make it possible to control write actions to model content more granularly.
Credits
Thanks to Lukas Kleinschmidt (@lukaskleinschmidt) for responsibly reporting the identified issue.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | getkirby/cms | ≥ 5.0.0&&< 5.2.2 | 5.2.2 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for getkirby/cms. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update getkirby/cms to 5.2.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-4j78-4xrm-cr2f 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 pinpoints whether GHSA-4j78-4xrm-cr2f is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to GHSA-4j78-4xrm-cr2f. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-4j78-4xrm-cr2f in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-4j78-4xrm-cr2f across Packagist dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.