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Vulnerability record · CVE-2022-35740 · published 10 November 2022

CVE-2022-35740: Dotcms cross-site scripting vulnerability

Dotcms · Dotcms

dotCMS before 22.06 allows remote attackers to bypass intended access control and obtain sensitive information by using a semicolon in a URL to introduce a matrix parameter. (This is also fixed in 5.3.8.12, 21.06.9, and 22.03.2 for LTS users.) Some Java application frameworks, including those used by Spring or Tomcat, allow the use of matrix parameters: these are URI parameters separated by semicolons. Through precise semicolon placement in a URI, it is possible to exploit this feature to avoid dotCMS's path-based XSS prevention (such as "require login" filters), and consequently access restricted resources. For example, an attacker could place a semicolon immediately before a / character that separates elements of a filesystem path. This could reveal file content that is ordinarily only visible to signed-in users. This issue can be chained with other exploit code to achieve XSS attacks against dotCMS.

6.1 CVSS 3.1 Medium EPSS 1.3% · top 31.5% CWE-79 · Cross-site scripting
6.1CVSS 3.1 base score
1.3%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
1Affected product versions listed by NVD
4References, 4 tagged exploit
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

dotCMS before 22.06 allows remote attackers to bypass intended access control and obtain sensitive information by using a semicolon in a URL to introduce a matrix parameter. (This is also fixed in 5.3.8.12, 21.06.9, and 22.03.2 for LTS users.) Some Java application frameworks, including those used by Spring or Tomcat, allow the use of matrix parameters: these are URI parameters separated by semicolons. Through precise semicolon placement in a URI, it is possible to exploit this feature to avoid dotCMS's path-based XSS prevention (such as "require login" filters), and consequently access restricted resources. For example, an attacker could place a semicolon immediately before a / character that separates elements of a filesystem path. This could reveal file content that is ordinarily only visible to signed-in users. This issue can be chained with other exploit code to achieve XSS attacks against dotCMS.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Affected products

1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
https://github.com/dotCMS/patches-hotfixes/tree/master/com.dotcms.security.matrixparams ExploitThird Party Advisory
https://www.dotcms.com/security/SI-63 ExploitMitigationVendor Advisory
https://github.com/dotCMS/patches-hotfixes/tree/master/com.dotcms.security.matrixparams ExploitThird Party Advisory
https://www.dotcms.com/security/SI-63 ExploitMitigationVendor Advisory

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Related vulnerabilities

Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.

9.8CVE-2022-26352dotCMS ContentResource API path traversal enables unauthenticated file upload RCEThe ContentResource API in dotCMS 3.0 through 22.02 fails to sanitize the filename in multipart form uploads, allowing directory traversal that write…KEVEPSS 92%analysed9.8CVE-2020-19138Dotcms unrestricted file upload vulnerabilityUnrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type in DotCMS v5.2.3 and earlier allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via the component "/src…EPSS 5.7%9.8CVE-2020-6754dotCMS directory traversal and unrestricted file upload enable RCEdotCMS before 5.2.4 is vulnerable to directory traversal that breaks access control on the $TOMCAT_HOME/webapps/ROOT/assets directory. Attackers can …EPSS 95%analysed9.8CVE-2017-5344Dotcms sql injection vulnerabilityAn issue was discovered in dotCMS through 3.6.1. The findChildrenByFilter() function which is called by the web accessible path /categoriesServlet pe…EPSS 6.3%9.8CVE-2016-2355Dotcms sql injection vulnerabilitySQL injection vulnerability in the REST API in dotCMS before 3.3.2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands via the stName parameter…EPSS 2.1%9.8CVE-2016-8902Dotcms sql injection vulnerabilitySQL injection vulnerability in the categoriesServlet servlet in dotCMS before 3.3.1 allows remote not authenticated attackers to execute arbitrary SQ…EPSS 2.8%9.4CVE-2025-11165Dotcms sql injection vulnerabilityA sandbox escape vulnerability exists in dotCMS’s Velocity scripting engine (VTools) that allows authenticated users with scripting privileges to byp…EPSS 0.31%8.8CVE-2022-45782Dotcms vulnerabilityAn issue was discovered in dotCMS core 5.3.8.5 through 5.3.8.15 and 21.03 through 22.10.1. A cryptographically insecure random generation algorithm f…EPSS 0.64%

Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2022-35740), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-28). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.