---
title: "WEB-CMS-019 Drupal update.php Open Without Authentication"
canonical: https://openvapt.com/checks/WEB-CMS-019.html
html: https://openvapt.com/checks/WEB-CMS-019.html
site: OpenVAPT, https://openvapt.com/
license: OpenVAPT Source-Available Licence 1.3, https://openvapt.com/legal/licence-text.html
modified: 2026-10-14
version: 0.1.0-alpha.6
---

# WEB-CMS-019 Drupal update.php Open Without Authentication

Checks Drupal settings.php for $settings['update_free_access'] = TRUE.

- Domain: Web Apps
- Severity: High
- Control category: Secure Configuration
- Fix effort: low
- CVSS v3.1 vector: `CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H`
- CIS Controls v8: 16.7
- NIST CSF 2.0: PR.PS-01
- CWE: CWE-306
- OWASP Top 10 2021: A01:2021, A05:2021
- OWASP ASVS 4.0.3: 4.3.2
- OWASP WSTG v4.2: WSTG-CONF-05
- NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5: AC-3, CM-6

## Why It Matters

update_free_access lets anyone run update.php, which executes database update hooks as the site. It exists for one-off maintenance and Drupal's own status report warns when it is left on.

## How It Detects

Reads each sites/*/settings.php found through the web roots (comments removed) and fails when update_free_access is TRUE.

## How to Fix

Set $settings['update_free_access'] = FALSE; in settings.php (the default) and run updates as user 1 or with drush updatedb.

## How to Verify

```
grep update_free_access sites/default/settings.php  shows FALSE.
```

## Learn the Theory

- [P6 Information Exposure and Misconfiguration](https://openvapt.com/academy/p6.md)
- [P14 CMS Hardening in Depth: WordPress, Joomla and Drupal](https://openvapt.com/academy/p14.md)
- [A6 Application Framework and CMS Configuration](https://openvapt.com/academy/a6.md)

## References

- [Drupal.org, Running update.php (update_free_access)](https://www.drupal.org/docs/updating-drupal/update-core-via-drush-or-manually)
- [Drupal.org, Securing file permissions and ownership](https://www.drupal.org/docs/administering-a-drupal-site/security-in-drupal/securing-file-permissions-and-ownership)

## Source Code

https://github.com/OpenVAPT/openvapt/blob/574f7f3333c44b75a3c649e2d93a76d507f75adf/internal/checks/web/cms_depth.go

Run it: `openvapt scan --only WEB-CMS-019`. Read it offline: `openvapt explain WEB-CMS-019`.

---

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