Craft CMS up to 4.16.16/5.8.20 System Message special elements used in a template engine

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Craft CMS up to 4.16.16/5.8.20. It has been declared as critical. This issue affects some unknown processing of the component System Message Handler. The manipulation results in improper neutralization of special elements used in a template engine. This vulnerability was named CVE-2025-68454. The attack may be performed from remote. There is no available exploit. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Craft CMS up to 4.16.16/5.8.20. Affected is some unknown processing of the component System Message Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a improper neutralization of special elements used in a template engine vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-1336. The product uses a template engine to insert or process externally-influenced input, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements or syntax that can be interpreted as template expressions or other code directives when processed by the engine. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

Craft is a platform for creating digital experiences. Versions 5.0.0-RC1 through 5.8.20 and 4.0.0-RC1 through 4.16.16 are vulnerable to potential authenticated Remote Code Execution via Twig SSTI. For this to work, users must have administrator access to the Craft Control Panel, and allowAdminChanges must be enabled, which is against Craft CMS' recommendations for any non-dev environment. Alternatively, a non-administrator account with allowAdminChanges disabled can be used, provided access to the System Messages utility is available. It is possible to craft a malicious payload using the Twig `map` filter in text fields that accept Twig input under Settings in the Craft control panel or using the System Messages utility, which could lead to a RCE. Users should update to the patched versions (5.8.21 and 4.16.17) to mitigate the issue.

The advisory is available at github.com. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2025-68454 since 12/17/2025. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not available. This vulnerability is assigned to T1221 by the MITRE ATT&CK project.

Upgrading to version 4.16.17 or 5.8.21 eliminates this vulnerability. The upgrade is hosted for download at github.com. Applying the patch d82680f4a05f9576883bb83c3f6243d33ca73ebe is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at github.com. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at EUVD (EUVD-2026-0844). If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

Productinfo

Type

• Content Management System

Vendor

• Craft

Name

• CMS

Version

• 4.16.0
• 4.16.1
• 4.16.2
• 4.16.3
• 4.16.4
• 4.16.5
• 4.16.6
• 4.16.7
• 4.16.8
• 4.16.9
• 4.16.10
• 4.16.11
• 4.16.12
• 4.16.13
• 4.16.14
• 4.16.15
• 4.16.16
• 5.8.0
• 5.8.1
• 5.8.2
• 5.8.3
• 5.8.4
• 5.8.5
• 5.8.6
• 5.8.7
• 5.8.8
• 5.8.9
• 5.8.10
• 5.8.11
• 5.8.12
• 5.8.13
• 5.8.14
• 5.8.15
• 5.8.16
• 5.8.17
• 5.8.18
• 5.8.19
• 5.8.20

License

• free

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

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