Medium

phpMyFAQ vulnerable to stored XSS on attachments filename

  • Disclosed: 05.02.2024
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 10:22

Summary

Unsafe echo of filename in phpMyFAQ\phpmyfaq\admin\attachments.php leading to allow execute JavaScript code in client side (XSS)

Details

On that snippet code of rendering the file attachments from user tables

php
<?php foreach ($crumbs as $item) : ?>
        <tr id="attachment_<?= $item->id ?>" title="<?= $item->thema ?>">
          <td><?= $item->id ?></td>
          <td><?= $item->filename ?></td>
          <td><?= $item->record_lang ?></td>
          <td><?= Utils::formatBytes($item->filesize) ?></td>
          <td><?= $item->mime_type ?></td>
          <td>

The data directly rendering with short hand echo without any sanitation first, its recommend to use existing class of Strings::htmlentities on use phpMyFAQ\Strings;

<td><?= Strings::htmlentities($item->filename); ?></td>
<td><?= Strings::htmlentities($item->record_lang); ?></td>
<td><?= Utils::formatBytes($item->filesize) ?></td>
<td><?= Strings::htmlentities($item->mime_type); ?></td>

Propose fixing on that pull request https://github.com/thorsten/phpMyFAQ/pull/2827

PoC

  1. An attacker with permission will upload the attachments image on http://{base_url}/admin/?action=editentry
  2. On endpoint of ajax upload image POST /admin/index.php?action=ajax&ajax=att&ajaxaction=upload
  3. Change the originally name file on parameters filename to a XSS payload
  4. The XSS will trigger on attachment pages /admin/?action=attachments
  • Trigger XSS image

  • Payload XSS <img width="1000" alt="image" src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/37658579/301022571-d6cdd166-b1f9-4062-87c5-c8bbb308cd5d.png">

Impact

This vulnerability will allow an attacker with a permissions of uploading an attachment to storing the payload of XSS on database specific table faqattachment columns filename.

The XSS payload could be rendering on page that listing the file on tables, and impact to others user that on the hierarchy.

The payload XSS have several attack scenario such like

  1. Stealing the cookies (isn’t possible since HttpOnly)
  2. Crashing the application with a looping javascript payload

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Composer package phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq < 3.2.5 3.2.5

References

CVSS score 6.5/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:L
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-79, CWE-80
Platform
Composer
Package
phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq
Disclosed
05.02.2024
Updated
11.10.2026 10:22

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-7m8g-fprr-47fx - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq

All published vulnerabilities of this package (Composer package), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

All (47) in the archive
Total entries
47
First → latest
10.2022 09.2026
Without a fix
2
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • Critical 2
  • High 18
  • Medium 25
  • Low 2

Disclosures per year

  1. 2022: 1
  2. 2023: 0
  3. 2024: 11
  4. 2025: 3
  5. 2026: 32
Severity:
  1. High · 8.1 CVE-2026-56737 >= 3.2.0, < 4.1.6 4.1.6
  2. High · 7.5 CVE-2026-35672 < 4.1.3 4.1.3
  3. High · 8.8 CVE-2026-35671 < 4.1.3 4.1.3
  4. High · 7.6 CVE-2026-46367 >= 4.1.1, < 4.1.2 4.1.2
  5. High · 7.2 CVE-2024-28105 >= 3.2.5, < 3.2.6 3.2.6
  6. High · 8.8 CVE-2024-28107 >= 3.2.5, < 3.2.6 3.2.6
  7. High · 8.8 CVE-2024-27299 >= 3.2.5, < 3.2.6 3.2.6
  8. phpMyFAQ vulnerable to stored XSS on attachments filename this entry
    Medium · 6.5 CVE-2024-24574 < 3.2.5 3.2.5
Show more (1) Showing 20 of 21

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