Raw vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:XCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2023-53979 is a high-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Mybb Mybb. Its CVSS base score is 8.6 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked in the top 44% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2023-53979 is a chained vulnerability affecting MyBB version 1.8.32, a popular open-source forum software. It allows authenticated administrators to bypass restrictions on avatar uploads and achieve arbitrary code execution. The exploit chain involves modifying upload path settings, uploading a malicious image file embedded with PHP code, and executing commands through the language configuration editing interface. The vulnerability is associated with CWE-22 (Path Traversal) and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating high severity due to network accessibility, low attack complexity, and significant impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
The attack requires low privileges—an authenticated administrator account—and can be carried out remotely without user interaction. An attacker with admin access can alter upload configurations to store files outside intended directories, embed executable PHP in an image, and trigger code execution via the language editor interface. This leads to full remote code execution on the server, potentially enabling full system compromise, data theft, or further persistence.
Advisories from sources like Vulncheck detail the chained local file inclusion and RCE issues, while the MyBB official site provides relevant security resources. An exploit is publicly available on Exploit-DB (ID 51213), and a related CVE-2022-45867 is referenced in the record. Practitioners should consult these for patch information and upgrade to mitigated versions of MyBB.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-60241
Vulnerability Data
MyBB 1.8.32 contains a chained vulnerability that allows authenticated administrators to bypass avatar upload restrictions and execute arbitrary code. Attackers can modify upload path settings, upload a malicious PHP-embedded image file, and execute commands through the language configuration editing interface.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V5.3.2
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Enforces the intended directory access authorizations that path traversal would otherwise bypass.
Input validation directly neutralizes special path elements before pathname construction occurs.
Least privilege reduces the impact of any unauthorized file access obtained via traversal.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.
PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.