CVE-2019-16173
LimeSurvey before v3.17.14 allows reflected XSS for escalating privileges from a low-privileged account to, for example, SuperAdmin.
Does this matter?
A public exploit is published in Exploit-DB (verified), so the technical barrier is gone even though the severity is medium and EPSS is 3.7%. Treat it as high on anything reachable from the internet.
Description
LimeSurvey before v3.17.14 allows reflected XSS for escalating privileges from a low-privileged account to, for example, SuperAdmin. This occurs in application/core/Survey_Common_Action.php,
- CVSS 3.1
- 5.4 MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
- EPSS
- 3.67% probability · 90th percentile
- Public exploits
- 1 in Exploit-DB · verified · first 13 September 2019
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-79
- Affected
- limesurvey/limesurvey
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS 3.7% since 27 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
Public exploits (1)
Entries in Exploit-DB that cite this CVE. Links go to the Exploit-DB page and to the file in the public repository; nothing is hosted here. A verified tick means the Exploit-DB team confirmed the exploit works against the stated version.
References
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/154479/LimeSurvey-3.17.13-Cross-Site-Scripting.htmlExploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2019/Sep/22Exploit, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://github.com/LimeSurvey/LimeSurvey/commit/f1c1ad2d24eb262363511fcca2e96ce737064006Patch
- https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Sep/27Exploit, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://www.limesurvey.org/limesurvey-updates/2188-limesurvey-3-17-14-build-190902-releasedBroken Link
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/154479/LimeSurvey-3.17.13-Cross-Site-Scripting.htmlExploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2019/Sep/22Exploit, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://github.com/LimeSurvey/LimeSurvey/commit/f1c1ad2d24eb262363511fcca2e96ce737064006Patch
- https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Sep/27Exploit, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://www.limesurvey.org/limesurvey-updates/2188-limesurvey-3-17-14-build-190902-releasedBroken Link
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.