CVE-2023-40033 | Server-Side Request Forgery via Avatar upload in flarum

Flarum is an open source forum software. Flarum is affected by a vulnerability that allows an attacker to conduct a Blind Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) attack or disclose any file on the server, even with a basic user account on any Flarum forum. By uploading a file containing a URL and spoofing the MIME type, an attacker can manipulate the application to execute unintended actions. The vulnerability is due to the behavior of the `intervention/image` package, which attempts to interpret the supplied file contents as a URL, which then fetches its contents. This allows an attacker to exploit the vulnerability to perform SSRF attacks, disclose local file contents, or conduct a blind oracle attack. This has been patched in Flarum version 1.8.0. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade may disable PHP's `allow_url_fopen` which will prevent the fetching of external files via URLs as a temporary workaround for the SSRF aspect of the vulnerability.

Published: 2023-08-16 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-40033 is rated Moderate Risk (41.2/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.18%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-40033

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-03-30 0.30% 0.18% -0.12%
2 2025-03-29 0.18% 0.30% +0.12%
3 2025-03-17 — 0.18% —

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-40033

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.1 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.8 4.2 [email protected]
7.1 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.8 4.2 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-40033

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2023-40033

GHSA-67c6-q4j4-hccg · Severity: high · Ecosystem: composer — Flarum vulnerable to LFI and Blind SSRF via Avatar upload

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-40033

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
flarum flarum < 1.8.0 cpe:2.3:a:flarum:flarum:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-40033

cvelogic Threat Intelligence