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Medium

phpMyFAQ Vulnerable to Stored HTML Injection at FAQ

  • Disclosed: 02.01.2025
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 10:22

Summary

Due to insufficient validation on the content of new FAQ posts, it is possible for authenticated users to inject malicious HTML or JavaScript code that can impact other users viewing the FAQ. This vulnerability arises when user-provided inputs in FAQ entries are not sanitized or escaped before being rendered on the page.

Details

An attacker can inject malicious HTML content into the FAQ editor at http://localhost/admin/index.php?action=editentry, resulting in a complete disruption of the FAQ page's user interface. By injecting malformed HTML elements styled to cover the entire screen, an attacker can render the page unusable. This injection manipulates the page structure by introducing overlapping buttons, images, and iframes, breaking the intended layout and functionality.

PoC

  1. In the source code of a FAQ Q&A post, insert the likes of this snippet:
<p>&lt;--`<img src="&#96;"> --!&gt;</p>
<div style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;"><form><button>HTML INJECTION 1<img> <img> <img> <img> <iframe></iframe></button>
<div style="xg-p: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;">x</div>
<button>HTML INJECTION 2<iframe></iframe> <iframe></iframe> </button></form></div>

image 2. A normal user would see the broken FAQ page, or otherwise manipulated by the attacker to present a different malicious page: image

A demo (fresh install overwrites every 24hours) here: https://roy.demo.phpmyfaq.de/content/1/24/en/24.html?

Impact

Exploiting this issue can lead to Denial of Service for legitimate users, damage to the user experience, and potential abuse in phishing or defacement attacks.

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Composer package phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq >= 3.2.10, <= 4.0.1 no fix
Composer package thorsten/phpmyfaq >= 3.2.10, <= 4.0.1 no fix

References

CVSS score 5.2/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:L
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-79, CWE-80
Platform
Composer
Package
phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq, thorsten/phpmyfaq
Disclosed
02.01.2025
Updated
11.10.2026 10:22

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-ww33-jppq-qfrp - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: thorsten/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 (112) in the archive
Total entries
112
First → latest
05.2022 09.2026
Without a fix
2
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • Critical 8
  • High 36
  • Medium 67
  • Low 1

Disclosures per year

Severity:
  1. phpMyFAQ has SQL Injection in `StopWords::add()` — Unescaped Stop Word Insertion
    High CVE-2026-56738 < 4.1.6 4.1.6
  2. phpMyFAQ's two-factor authentication login bypasses the password factor
    High · 8.1 CVE-2026-56737 >= 3.2.0, < 4.1.6 4.1.6
  3. phpMyFAQ has Stored XSS in Admin FAQ Editor via HTML Entity Bypass in Frontend FAQ Submission
    High · 8.2 CVE-2026-56736 < 4.2.0-alpha 4.2.0-alpha
  4. phpMyFAQ privilege escalation: GroupController::updatePermissions lets a GROUP_EDIT admin grant rights they do not hold
    High · 8.8 CVE-2026-57995 < 4.1.5 4.1.5
  5. phpMyFAQ has an incomplete fix for GHSA-xvp4-phqj-cjr3 — editUser() and updateUserRights() lack authorization guards
    High · 8.1 CVE-2026-56396 < 4.1.4 4.1.4
  6. phpMyFAQ: Missing Password Reset Token Allows Account Takeover via Username/Email Enumeration
    High · 8.2 CVE-2026-35675 < 4.1.3 4.1.3
  7. phpMyFAQ: Default Empty API Token Authentication Bypass
    High · 7.5 CVE-2026-35672 < 4.1.3 4.1.3
  8. phpMyFAQ: IDOR Account Takeover
    High · 8.8 CVE-2026-35671 < 4.1.3 4.1.3
  9. phpMyFAQ: Unauthenticated Password Reset Endpoint Allows User Enumeration and Forced Password Change Without Token Validation
    High · 8.2 CVE-2026-35676 < 4.1.3 4.1.3
  10. phpMyFAQ has unauthenticated SQL injection via User-Agent header in BuiltinCaptcha
    Critical · 9.8 CVE-2026-46364 < 4.1.2 4.1.2
  11. phpMyFAQ has unauthenticated FAQ permission bypass via getFaqBySolutionId fallback query
    High · 7.5 CVE-2026-46366 < 4.1.2 4.1.2
  12. phpMyFAQ has SQL Injection in CurrentUser::setTokenData through unescaped OAuth token fields
    High · 7.5 CVE-2026-46359 < 4.1.2 4.1.2
  13. phpMyFAQ enables unauthenticated 2FA brute-force attack via /admin/check acceptance of arbitrary user-id
    Critical · 9.1 CVE-2026-45010 < 4.1.2 4.1.2
  14. phpMyFAQ has stored XSS via Utils::parseUrl() in comment rendering
    High · 7.6 CVE-2026-46367 >= 4.1.1, < 4.1.2 4.1.2
  15. phpMyFAQ Allows Unauthenticated Account Creation via WebAuthn Prepare Endpoint
    High · 7.5 CVE-2026-27836 < 4.0.18 4.0.18
  16. phpMyFAQ has unauthenticated config backup download via /api/setup/backup
    High · 7.5 CVE-2025-69200 < 4.0.16, >= 4.1.0-alpha, <= 4.1.0-beta.2 4.0.16
  17. phpMyFAQ has Authenticated SQL Injection in Configuration Update Functionality
    High · 7.2 CVE-2025-62519 < 4.0.14 4.0.14
  18. phpMyFAQ duplicate email registration allows multiple accounts with the same email
    High · 8.1 CVE-2025-59943 >= 4.0.7, < 4.0.13 4.0.13
  19. phpMyFAQ Vulnerable to Stored HTML Injection at FAQ this entry
    Medium · 5.2 CVE-2024-56199 >= 3.2.10, <= 4.0.1 no fix
  20. phpMyFAQ Generates an Error Message Containing Sensitive Information if database server is not available
    High · 8.6 CVE-2024-54141 < 4.0.0 4.0.0
Show more (20) Showing 20 of 45

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