Simple Hack Threatens Joomla Sites - update NOW

If you run a site powered by the Joomla content management system and haven’t yet applied a critical update for this software released less than two weeks ago, please take a moment to do that: A trivial exploit could let users inject malicious content into your site, turning it into a phishing or malware trap for visitors.

The patch released on July 31, 2013 applies to Joomla2.5.13 and earlier 2.5.x versions, as well as Joomla3.1.4 and earlier 3.x versions. Joomla credits discovery of the bug to Web security firm Versafe, which says a simple exploit targeting the vulnerability is already in use. Joomla versions 2.5.14 and 3.1.5. fix a serious bug that allows unprivileged users to upload arbitrary .PHP files just by adding a “.” (period) to the end of PHP filenames.

For 2.5.x and 3.x versions of Joomla, it is possible for anyone with access to the media manager to upload and execute arbitrary code simply by appending a period to the end of the file name they would like to run. For sites powered by unsupported versions of Joomla (1.5.x, and a cursory Google search indicates that there are tens of thousands of these 1.5.x sites currently online), attackers do not even need to have an account on the Joomla server for this hack to work.

Simple Hack Threatens Outdated Joomla Sites

Joomla! on Google+

The official Joomla! Google Plus page. 

Joomla! is an open source content management system used to build websites, intranets, and other cool web products. 

Most importantly, Joomla! is a community made up of amazing volunteers from all corners of the world. 

Working together, they make the world a tad bit better!  The best part:  Joomla! is completely free!

 Joomla! on Google+

How to migrate Joomla 1.5 to 2.5 or 3.0

Support for Joomla 1.5 is officially about to end. Does that mean your 1.5 site will stop working? No, your site will continue to work as it always has. However, Joomla’s developers will not be releasing new versions for Joomla 1.5, so you won’t be getting bug fixes or security fixes. For this reason, it’s recommended to migrate from 1.5.

Moving from 2.5 to any Joomla 3 version is relatively simple, since Joomla has made the process easy for newer versions. Unfortunately, moving from 1.5 is not a trivial task. Fortunately, there are two good extensions that make the process easier: jUpgrade and SP Upgrade.

You have a choice of going straight to Joomla 3.0 or going to 2.5 first. Both SP Upgrade and jUpgrade have versions ready for both versions. Please consult with their documentation on how to migrate from Joomla 1.5 to 3.0/2.5.

Migrate to Joomla 3.0

Migrate to Joomla 3.0 if all the extensions that you plan to use are Joomla 3.0 compatible. Only some template providers or the extension vendors will be ready for Joomla 3.0 at launch, however most will not be ready until days, weeks or months after. (See the “How do I find Joomla 3.0 compatible extensions?” FAQ for more information)

Migrate to Joomla 2.5 if you want the most stable that Joomla has to offer and/or if you plan on using many extensions

How to migrate Joomla 1.5  to 2.5 or 3.0

Joomla 3.1 Beta now avaiable

The Joomla! Project is pleased to announce the availability of Joomla! CMS 3 Beta1. Community members are asked to download and install the package in order to provide quality assurance for Joomla 3.1. Joomla 3.1 is scheduled for release on or around March 25th, 2013.

Joomla 3 is the latest major release of the Joomla CMS, with Joomla 3.1 the second short term support release in this series.  Please note that going from Joomla 3.0 to 3.1 is a one-click upgrade and is NOT a migration.  The same is true is for any subsequent versions in the Joomla 3 series.  That being said, please do not upgrade any of your production sites to the beta version as beta is ONLY intended for testing.

Joomla 3.1 Beta1 Released

Joomla 3.1 Beta1 Released 

Joomla 3.0.0 Released

The Joomla! Project is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Joomla 3.0.0. This is the next major release of the Joomla CMS in the Standard Term Support (STS) track. All 3.0 users will need to plan to update to the new versions available in the STS release cycle every six months until version 3.5 is released. These updates are expected to be simple and backwards compatible.

Who is this release for?

The standard-term releases are designed for users who need access to the new features. Most users with existing 2.5.x sites will not want to update to version 3.0. Users creating new sites can use either version 2.5 or 3.0, depending on which best suits their needs. Please consider the availability of third-party templates and extensions when deciding which Joomla version to use. Also, if you decide to use version 3.0, please be aware that you will need to update your site every six months (to 3.1, 3.2, and so on) until version 3.5 is available. These updates are expected to be simple and backwards compatible.

What is the status of Joomla! 2.5?

Version 2.5 of the Joomla! CMS is a Long Term Support (LTS) release and support for it will continue until shortly after the release of Joomla 3.5, scheduled for Spring 2014. Users on version 2.5 do not need to migrate to Joomla 3.0.

What is the status of Joomla! 1.5?

Support for Joomla 1.5 will end shortly after the release of Joomla 3.0. It is currently supported only for security issues.

Will I be able to update directly from 2.5 to Joomla! 3?

Yes. Any update issues will be a top priority and will likely be resolved early in the 3.x release train. However, it is likely that many templates and extensions for Joomla 2.5 will need modification to work with Joomla 3. Always test prior to migrating and consult with the developers of any extensions and templates you use. Be aware that the technical requirements for running Joomla 3.0 are different. In addition to requiring newer versions of software, certain settings that were once recommmened are now required such as requiring that magic quotes is off. See the Technical Requirements page for the specifications. See the Joomla 3.0.0 Post-Release FAQs for more detailed information about updating from 2.5 to 3.0.

What are the new features of Joomla! 3?

• Incorporation of Twitter Bootstrap into a jui media package.
• A new responsive, mobile device friendly administrator template--Isis-- and interface.
• A new front end template--Protostar-- built using Twitter Bootstrap.
• Updated accessible template called Beez3.
• A simplified 3-step installation process.
• PostgreSQL Driver. You will be able to run Joomla 3.0 sites using the PostgreSQL database.
• PHP Memcached Driver
• Use of JFeed for feed management rather than SimplePie
• Installation of language packages directly from the extension manager
• Guest user group present by default
• Saving blank articles allowed
• New administrator statistics module
• Update TinyMCE to version 3.5.6
• Continued clean up of older unused code, files and database fields and tables and improved standardization of tables.
• Improvements to Smart Search
• Extensive work on code style standardisation and consistency
• Unit testing in the CMS
• Updated system tests in the CMS 
• Custom active menu item for menu module
• Let the SEF plug-in add the canonical url to the head
• Version 12.2 of the Joomla Platform

This release also includes the current version (12.2) of the Joomla! Platform, which includes a large number of new and improved packages.  

Joomla 3.0.0 Released

jUpgrade v2.5.2 released

Download here:

Today marks the release and immediate availability of jUpgrade v2.5.2, the latest version of the popular Joomla! site migration tool.

One of the most significant improvements that has been made is the addition of lot of new 3rd party extensions and lot of bugs related with bad migration that causes the common [undefined] issue.

Further fixes are listed in the changelog below: + Adding Banners clients and tracks migration ^ Fixing layout param on Article - Newsflash module + Adding Adsmanager plugin + Adding Avreloaded plugin + Adding CsvImproved plugin + Adding Docman plugin + Adding redTextLibrary plugin + Adding XMap plugin ^ Fix menu aliases generation where there was no reason to rename alias ^ Improve code readability on error handling (category, menu migration) ^ Fix fatal error when migrating categories (component only) ^ Fix htmlencoded strings which are escaped in J!2.5 ^ Fix legacy mode on new Joomla versions ^ Updating redComponents plugins + Adding FlippingBook plugin ^ Updating joomla sql file to v2.5.4 ^ Updating some 3rd party extensions plugin + Adding database driver to configuration ^ Better compatibility with joomla-platform 12.1 + Adding Akeeba Release System + Adding SobiPro plugin + Adding Highslide JS plugin + Adding FLEXIcontent plugin + Adding JComment plugin + Adding Ambra Suscriptions plugin + Adding AllEvents plugin + Adding aiContactSafe plugin + Adding AdminTools plugin + Adding AceSEF plugin ^ Fixing JCE migration ^ Fix #31: Category ID=1 gets lost during migration … ^ Fix #29 Uncategorized items (no category) get moved into wrong category … ^ Fix #23 Main Menu module looses its menu assigments ^ Fix category ordering to be the same as in Joomla 1.5 ^ Fix a bug in menus where page header was shown when show_page_heading=0 ^ Fix creating uncategorized categories if database prefix changed ^ Fixing root id on categories ^ Fixing broken categories + Adding uncategorized categories ^ Config formating ^ Keeping the categories id's + Skip core migration added to configuration

Grab the latest copy of jUpgrade v2.5.2 from the "Free Downloads" section. Remember that the jUpgrade online wiki documentation is available in case you need further information or run into trouble. The team are also available to help you migrate your site.


If you come across any bugs, please report them in the jUpgrade Tracker or the Support forums!

Download here:

Top 10 Joomla! Templates for 2011

Top 10 Joomla! Templates for 201

As the year comes to a close we have a chance to stop and look back at the awesome designs that some of the Joomla template providers have put together throughout 2011.

We’ve seen many pushing the boundaries as well as adopting trends in web design but most importantly embracing and supporting the new Joomla 1.6/1.7 release.

This list of templates is a personal list of favourites that we found to push design forward for Joomla as well as being inspirational. Hopefully these will also be inspirational to all other Joomla designers.