CVE-2023-5917 | phpBB Smiley Pack acp_icons.php main cross site scripting

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in phpBB up to 3.3.10. This issue affects the function main of the file phpBB/includes/acp/acp_icons.php of the component Smiley Pack Handler. The manipulation of the argument pak leads to cross site scripting. The attack may be initiated remotely. Upgrading to version 3.3.11 is able to address this issue. The patch is named ccf6e6c255d38692d72fcb613b113e6eaa240aac. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component. The associated identifier of this vulnerability is VDB-244307.

Published: 2023-11-02 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-5917 is rated Low Risk (18.1/100): CVSS Low severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.09%). Low composite risk—no urgent action required; patch on your normal maintenance cycle and revisit priority if CVSS or EPSS increases.

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-2023-5917

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 2025-11-21 0.45% 0.09% -0.36%
2 2025-11-18 0.09% 0.45% +0.36%
3 2025-04-15 — 0.09% —

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-5917

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
2.4 3.1 LOW
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:N/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:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful 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.
 0.9 1.4 [email protected]
6.1 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/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:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
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 2.7 [email protected]
3.3 2.0 LOW
AV:N/AC:L/Au:M/C:N/I:P/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:M)
Multiple authentications are required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 6.4 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-5917

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2023-5917

GHSA-gmx8-8rff-qv6q · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: composer — phpBB's Smiley Pack acp_icons.php main pack vulnerable to cross site scripting

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-5917

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
phpbb phpbb < 3.3.11 cpe:2.3:a:phpbb:phpbb:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-5917

cvelogic Threat Intelligence