CVE-2019-16172
Description
LimeSurvey before 3.17.14 has stored XSS in survey group titles allowing privilege escalation to SuperAdmin.
AI Insight
LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.
LimeSurvey before 3.17.14 has stored XSS in survey group titles allowing privilege escalation to SuperAdmin.
LimeSurvey before version 3.17.14 contains a stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in survey group titles. When a survey group is deleted, the title content is not properly sanitized, allowing embedded JavaScript to execute [2][3].
An attacker with a low-privileged account can create a survey group with a malicious title containing JavaScript. Upon deletion of the group, the script executes in the context of a higher-privileged user, leading to privilege escalation [3].
The impact of successful exploitation is that an attacker can gain SuperAdmin privileges, effectively taking full control of the LimeSurvey instance [2][3].
LimeSurvey has addressed this issue in version 3.17.14. Users are strongly advised to upgrade to the patched version to mitigate the vulnerability [3].
AI Insight generated on May 22, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.
Affected packages
Versions sourced from the GitHub Security Advisory.
| Package | Affected versions | Patched versions |
|---|---|---|
limesurvey/limesurveyPackagist | < 3.17.14 | 3.17.14 |
Affected products
2- LimeSurvey/LimeSurveydescription
Patches
232d6a5224327Fixed issue: [security] #15204: Stored XSS vulnerabilities - Thanks to J. Greil from the SEC Consult Vulnerability Lab (https://www.sec-consult.com)
1 file changed · +1 −1
application/controllers/admin/SurveysGroupsController.php+1 −1 modified@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ public function delete($id) // if AJAX request (triggered by deletion via admin grid view), we should not redirect the browser if (!isset($_GET['ajax'])) { - Yii::app()->setFlashMessage(sprintf(gT("The survey group '%s' was deleted."), $sGroupTitle), 'success'); + Yii::app()->setFlashMessage(sprintf(gT("The survey group '%s' was deleted."), CHtml::encode($sGroupTitle)), 'success'); $this->getController()->redirect(isset($_POST['returnUrl']) ? $_POST['returnUrl'] : array('admin/survey/sa/listsurveys ')); } }
8820d9619e8fRelease 3.17.4+190529
2 files changed · +88 −2
application/config/version.php+2 −2 modified@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@ */ -$config['versionnumber'] = '3.17.3'; +$config['versionnumber'] = '3.17.4'; $config['dbversionnumber'] = 359; $config['buildnumber'] = ''; $config['updatable'] = true; -$config['assetsversionnumber'] = '30084'; +$config['assetsversionnumber'] = '30085'; return $config;
docs/release_notes.txt+86 −0 modified@@ -35,6 +35,92 @@ Thank you to everyone who helped with this new release! CHANGE LOG ------------------------------------------------------ + +Changes from 3.17.3 (build 190429) to 3.17.4 (build 190529) May 29, 2019 +-Fixed issue [security]: survey manager can use SQL injection to access all data in the database (LouisGac) +-Fixed issue [security] #14836: XSS on icon for Boxes (Denis Chenu) +-Fixed issue: "Array text" questions were using subquestion code instead of subquestion text at print answers overview. Adjusted according to default array question layout. (Marcel Minke) +-Fixed issue #13516: Cannot access localized (i18n) values for a custom question attribute (Dominik Vitt) +-Fixed issue #13608: Permission to create participants in the central participants database (Patrick Teichmann) +-Fixed issue #13739: Relevance equation broken for array by column (Dominik Vitt) +-Fixed issue #13904: UTF-8 characters not correctly saved in survey texts when using MSSQL DB (Carsten Schmitz) +-Fixed issue #13936: Bootswatch inherit everyting to no: deactivate container (#1196) (Denis Chenu) +-Fixed issue #14038: Minor interface text changes (Carsten Schmitz) +-Fixed issue #14060: Deleting a participant and associated surveys and all associated responses from CPDB not working (Patrick Teichmann) +-Fixed issue #14148: Quota out is shown as completed in token list (Dominik Vitt) +-Fixed issue #14179: List questions panel - group-edit questions - Delete - text issue (Carsten Schmitz) +-Fixed issue #14187: In IE, for an Array question the radio buttons disappear when resizing the page to the point the answers start to stack. (Markus Flür) +-Fixed issue #14187: (Revisited) In IE, for an Array question the radio buttons disappear when resizing the page to the point the answers start to stack. (Markus Flür) +-Fixed issue #14201: Small text issue - reorder questions/groups panel (Carsten Schmitz) +-Fixed issue #14255: Current global theme options don't show in theme editor preview (Dominik Vitt) +-Fixed issue #14459 : show information about token field and duplicate (Denis Chenu) +-Fixed issue #14468: Viewing "Surveys in this group" displays all surveys regardless of Survey Group (Dominik Vitt) +-Fixed issue #14513: Permissions on shared participants (CPDB) (Patrick Teichmann) +-Fixed issue #14514: Purpose of permission "update" - CPDB (Patrick Teichmann) +-Fixed issue #14516: Delete from the central panel and associated surveys - CPDB (Patrick Teichmann) +-Fixed issue #14559: Theme editor loads parent theme.css file instead of current theme.css file (Dominik Vitt) +-Fixed issue #14598: Bad order shown in List question (#1237) (Denis Chenu) +-Fixed issue #14660: Unable to choose icon on Boxes (Olle Haerstedt) +-Fixed issue #14667: No timer message displayed for boilerplate question (Dominik Vitt) +-Fixed issue #14701: upload files - duplicate alert message (Denis Chenu) +-Fixed issue #14788: resume later + ajax mode : JS issue (Patrick Teichmann) +-Fixed issue #14809: Caret is over the text in group list (Dominik Vitt) +-Fixed issue #14815: exporting tab-separated removes mandatory property of questions (Dominik Vitt) +-Fixed issue #14844: Deprecated warning when running survey with PHP 7.3.4 (Dominik Vitt) +-Fixed issue #14855: Allowed invalid completed survey with full index (Denis Chenu) +-Fixed issue #14858: Upload status is not visible enough (#1272) (Denis Chenu) +-Fixed issue #14862: Export to LSS on Portuguese (Portugal) language (Denis Chenu) +-Fixed issue #14875: No error is shown at debug=0 if DB is broken (#1279) (Denis Chenu) +-Fixed issue #14895: Upgrading problem from version 2.* to 3.17.3 (Dominik Vitt) +-Fixed issue #14899: Incorrect behavior with Question of type R (Ranking) (Denis Chenu) +-Fixed issue #14900: numerical array with checkboxes lose all data (Dominik Vitt) +-Fixed issue #14934: Survey theme options are reset to default values (Dominik Vitt) +-Fixed issue #14938: Check data integrity : die with renaming a non existing table (Denis Chenu) +-Fixed issue #14939: Check data integrity with a lot of broken question : SQL error (MSSQL) (Denis Chenu) +-Fixed issue: Administrators now have access to the CPDB if they have shared participants or have global Permissions 'read, create, update, delete', "global Permissions" > "shared Permissions" (Patrick Teichmann) +-Fixed issue: multiple select not acknowledged by pjax form (Markus Flür) +-Fixed issue : Only one survey is find for SurveyLanguageSetting in checkintegrity (Denis Chenu) +-Fixed issue: Properly show "Array text" questions at print answers screen (Marcel Minke) +-Fixed issue: Question selector not working on IE11 (Markus Flür) +-Fixed issue: regression, list radio rows have no iterator (Markus Flür) +-Fixed issue: Some minor translation issues (Carsten Schmitz) +#Updated translation: Arabic by waseemz +#Updated translation: Catalan by qualitatuvic +#Updated translation: Chinese (Simplified) by johnxan +#Updated translation: Chinese (Taiwan) (Traditional) by hms5232 +#Updated translation: Croatian by dominikvitt +#Updated translation: Czech by c_schmitz, slansky, VBraun, jelen1 +#Updated translation: Czech by jelen1, nekola +#Updated translation: Czech by nekola, jelen1 +#Updated translation: Czech (Informal) by jelen1 +#Updated translation: Czech (Informal) by slansky, c_schmitz, jelen1, VBraun, dusanm +#Updated translation: Danish by Mikkel +#Updated translation: Dutch by Han +#Updated translation: Dutch (Informal) by Han +#Updated translation: French (France) by DenisChenu +#Updated translation: French (France) by DenisChenu, arnaud21, b00z00, riqcles +#Updated translation: French (France) by DenisChenu, b00z00 +#Updated translation: German by bewi +#Updated translation: German by c_schmitz, bewi +#Updated translation: German (Informal) by bewi, c_schmitz +#Updated translation: German (Informal) by c_schmitz +#Updated translation: Hungarian by kkd +#Updated translation: Italian by lfanfoni +#Updated translation: Italian by lfanfoni, Prosperocco +#Updated translation: Italian (Informal) by lfanfoni +#Updated translation: Norwegian (Bokmål) by pmonstad +#Updated translation: Polish by elissa +#Updated translation: Polish (Informal) by elissa +#Updated translation: Portuguese (Portugal) by castrosergioms, joseluisfaria +#Updated translation: Romanian by cdorin +#Updated translation: Russian by T34, vipgroup +#Updated translation: Russian by vipgroup +#Updated translation: Spanish (Mexican) by c_schmitz, k001, emphasis034, javoguadas, larjona, aesteban, fernandoessv, cripton, Dhel210, rodrirokr, gabrieljenik, oleggorfinkel +#Updated translation: Spanish (Mexican) by oleggorfinkel +#Updated translation: Tajik by c_schmitz, Iskandar_r +#Updated translation: Turkish by kayazeren +#Updated translation: Vietnamese by dnvservices + Changes from 3.17.2 (build 190408) to 3.17.3 (build 190429 ) April 29, 2019 -Fixed issue #13793: Error on RPC: add_response method with "Anonymized responses" Survey (Olle Haerstedt) -Fixed issue #13950: SQL Error when saving a response or getting a session token via API (Denis Chenu)
Vulnerability mechanics
Generated on May 9, 2026. Inputs: CWE entries + fix-commit diffs from this CVE's patches. Citations validated against bundle.
References
7- github.com/advisories/GHSA-fr47-r224-c36mghsaADVISORY
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-16172ghsaADVISORY
- packetstormsecurity.com/files/154479/LimeSurvey-3.17.13-Cross-Site-Scripting.htmlghsax_refsource_MISCWEB
- seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2019/Sep/22ghsamailing-listx_refsource_FULLDISCWEB
- github.com/LimeSurvey/LimeSurvey/commit/32d6a5224327b246ee3a2a08500544e4f80f9a9aghsax_refsource_MISCWEB
- seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Sep/27ghsamailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQWEB
- www.limesurvey.org/limesurvey-updates/2188-limesurvey-3-17-14-build-190902-releasedghsax_refsource_MISCWEB
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