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Critical

Unauthenticated SQL Injection in dotCMS Core Publish Audit API

IdentifiersCVE-2026-8054CWE-89· Improper Neutralization of Special…

CVE-2026-8054 is a critical SQL injection vulnerability in dotCMS Core affecting the Publish Audit API endpoints /api/auditPublishing/get and /api/auditPublishing/getAll. In vulnerable versions, these endpoints did not enforce authentication and accepted attacker-controlled input that was incorporated into dynamically constructed SQL statements without proper sanitization or parameter binding. The vulnerable code path is described as passing JSON-supplied bundle identifiers into PublishAuditAPIImpl, where values were wrapped and concatenated into a query of the form select * from publishing_queue_audit where bundle_id in (%s). This allowed remote unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary SQL against the backend PostgreSQL database. The issue affects dotCMS Core versions 25.11.04-1 through 26.04.28-02. LTS releases were not affected because the vulnerable code path was not backported.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation allows remote unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary SQL statements against the dotCMS backend database. Reported impact includes unauthorized reading, modification, and deletion of database content; schema extraction; credential theft; content tampering; creation or manipulation of privileged application data; and destructive operations such as dropping tables or otherwise damaging the database. The supporting content also indicates the possibility of stacked queries and notes that remote code execution on the database host may be theoretically possible in PostgreSQL environments where the database account has sufficiently elevated privileges.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

Until patching is completed, restrict or block access to /api/auditPublishing/get and /api/auditPublishing/getAll, especially from untrusted networks. Limit exposure of backend interfaces, enforce network-layer access controls, and monitor for suspicious requests targeting the Publish Audit API. Because the flaw was exploitable without authentication in vulnerable builds, reducing endpoint reachability is the primary short-term mitigation. Where possible, ensure only authenticated backend users with the appropriate publishing-queue portlet permission can reach the functionality.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade dotCMS Core to version 26.04.28-03 or later. According to the provided content, the vendor fix parameterized the affected SQL queries and added authentication controls to the impacted Publish Audit API endpoints. Specifically, the fixed behavior requires an authenticated backend user with the publishing-queue portlet permission. Versions 25.11.04-1 through 26.04.28-02 are affected; referenced LTS releases are not affected.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No valid public exploits. Mallory filtered out 1 candidate as fakes, detection scripts, or README-only repos.

VALID 0 / 1 TOTALView more in app

All candidate exploits were filtered out by Mallory's validation.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType
DotcmsCoreapplication

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What this page doesn’t show

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Threat actor evidence

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Associated malware

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Detection signatures

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Vendor-by-vendor mapping

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Social activity7

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