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Medium

phpMyFAQ: /api/setup/backup accessible to any authenticated user (authz missing)

  • Disclosed: 23.01.2026
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 10:22

Summary

Authenticated non‑admin users can call /api/setup/backup and trigger a configuration backup. The endpoint only checks authentication, not authorization, and returns a link to the generated ZIP.

Details

SetupController.php uses userIsAuthenticated() but does not verify that the requester has configuration/admin permissions. This allows any logged‑in user to create a sensitive backup and retrieve its path.

PoC

Precondition: API enabled, any authenticated non‑admin user.

  • Log in as a non‑admin user.
  • Call backup endpoint.
bash
curl -c /tmp/pmf_api_cookies.txt \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"username":"tester","password":"Test1234!"}' \
  http://192.168.40.16/phpmyfaq/api/v3.0/login

curl -i -b /tmp/pmf_api_cookies.txt \
  -X POST --data '4.0.16' \
  http://192.168.40.16/phpmyfaq/api/setup/backup

Impact

Low‑privileged users can generate sensitive backups. If the ZIP is web‑accessible (server misconfiguration), this can lead to secret exposure.

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Composer package phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq < 4.0.17 4.0.17
Composer package thorsten/phpmyfaq < 4.0.17 4.0.17

References

CVSS score 6.5/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-285, CWE-862
Platform
Composer
Package
phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq, thorsten/phpmyfaq
Disclosed
23.01.2026
Updated
11.10.2026 10:22

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-wm8h-26fv-mg7g - 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

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: Path Traversal - Arbitrary File Deletion in MediaBrowserController
    High · 8.7 CVE-2026-34728 < 4.1.1 4.1.1
  16. phpMyFAQ: /api/setup/backup accessible to any authenticated user (authz missing) this entry
    Medium · 6.5 CVE-2026-24421 < 4.0.17 4.0.17
  17. phpMyFAQ has Authenticated SQL Injection in Configuration Update Functionality
    High · 7.2 CVE-2025-62519 < 4.0.14 4.0.14
  18. phpMyFAQ's File Upload Bypass at Category Image Leads to RCE
    High · 7.2 CVE-2024-28105 >= 3.2.5, < 3.2.6 3.2.6
  19. phpMyFAQ SQL injections at insertentry & saveentry
    High · 8.8 CVE-2024-28107 >= 3.2.5, < 3.2.6 3.2.6
  20. phpMyFAQ SQL Injection at "Save News"
    High · 8.8 CVE-2024-27299 >= 3.2.5, < 3.2.6 3.2.6
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