Joomla Vulnerability Scanner

With more and more websites on the Internet running on open source Content Management Systems (CMSs) like Joomla!, WordPress, and Drupal, CMS security is becoming an increasingly important factor of organization security. Unfortunately, despite their popularity, thousands of Joomla! installations contain high-severity vulnerabilities, which could easily allow attackers to gain access to the the web server (such as Apache HTTP Server or Nginx), or even, in some cases, the underlying Linux or Windows operating system. With Joomla! installations making up a significant portion of websites on the Internet, it’s no surprise that it, and CMSs like it, are juicy targets for attackers – including novice attackers known as “script kiddies”. To add insult to injury, some organizations may be operating dozens of Joomla! websites, making it a nightmare to keep track of security patches of each site they administer.

Acunetix is a web security scanner featuring a fully-fledged Joomla security scanner designed to be lightning-fast and dead-simple to use while providing all the necessary features to manage and track vulnerabilities such as Cross-site Scripting (XSS) and SQL Injection (SQLi) from discovery to resolution. The CMS vulnerability scanner within Acunetix not only scans for the latest Joomla! vulnerabilities in the current version of the CMS, but it will also raise alerts for older, insecure versions of Joomla!, as well as for vulnerable extensions (plugins). While Joomla! extensions can greatly extend the capabilities of a website, they usually expose a greater attack surface since they could be developed and distributed by anyone on the Internet and, as a result, may not only contain vulnerabilities but also malicious code.

Additionally, unlike many other Joomla! vulnerability scanners, Acunetix is lightning fast. With a re-engineered core and a highly optimized crawler, every inch of Acunetix is tuned for speed and efficiency, allowing it to scan even even the largest Joomla! websites without breaking a sweat. What’s more, Acunetix can throttle the speed at which a vulnerability scan runs, ensuring that even high-traffic sites can be scanned without affecting their performance.

Finally, another problem that Acunetix solves, which many other CMS vulnerability scanners sorely lack, is the ability to produce great reports. After a vulnerability scan is complete, Acunetix can instantly generate a wide variety of technical, regulatory, and compliance reports such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, OWASP Top 10, and many others. Additionally, Acunetix also allows users to export discovered vulnerabilities to issue trackers such as Atlassian Jira, GitHub, GitLab, Mantis, Bugzilla, and Microsoft Team Foundation Server (TFS).

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a vulnerability scanner for Joomla?

Joomla! is considered a relatively secure CMS, especially when compared to WordPress. However, we found out that almost 10% of Joomla! Installations have vulnerabilities. This means that your Joomla! installation may have a security vulnerability that may be used by someone to attack you.

Read the Acunetix web application vulnerability report.

What type of scanner do I need for Joomla?

You need a DAST scanner (black-box scanner) to check the security of your Joomla! installation. A SAST scanner (white-box scanner) is only used during the development of custom-written applications. You need a professional scanner like Acunetix that can also check your Joomla! host for network vulnerabilities and find malware.

Read about the differences between DAST and SAST scanners.

What can happen if I don’t scan my Joomla! installation?

Certain web vulnerabilities like SQL Injections or Cross-site Scripting may have serious consequences. You may lose access to your Joomla! installation if someone steals your administrator password. You may also lose all your data stored in Joomla! An attacker may even potentially attack your other interconnected systems.

Learn what can happen after an SQL Injection.

Is Acunetix optimized for Joomla?

Acunetix is a black-box scanner that has a lot of specific tests for Joomla! core and plugins. It also has a lot of generic tests that apply to custom-made applications, including any custom Joomla! plugins. It is your best protection against malicious hackers.

Learn more about Acunetix Premium and its capabilities.