{"id":"GHSA-98gw-w575-h2ph","aliases":["CVE-2026-32629"],"title":"phpMyFAQ is Vulnerable to Stored XSS via Unsanitized Email Field in Admin FAQ Editor","description":"### Summary\nAn unauthenticated attacker can submit a guest FAQ with an email address that is syntactically valid per RFC 5321 (quoted local part) yet contains raw HTML — for example \"\"@evil.com. PHP's FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL accepts this email as valid. The email is stored in the database without HTML sanitization and later rendered in the admin FAQ editor template using Twig's |raw filter, which bypasses auto-escaping entirely.\n\n### Details\n1. PHP FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL accepts RFC-valid quoted local parts with dangerous characters\n\nphpmyfaq/src/phpMyFAQ/Controller/Frontend/Api/FaqController.php:99\n$email = trim((string) Filter::filterVar($data->email, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL));\nPHP accepts \"\"@evil.com as a valid email (RFC 5321 allows <, > inside quoted local parts). Confirmed:\n\"\"@evil.com => string (valid, not false)\n\n2. Email stored raw without HTML sanitization\n\nphpmyfaq/src/phpMyFAQ/Faq.php — email retrieved directly as $row->email from the database.\n\n3. Admin Twig template renders email with |raw\n\nphpmyfaq/assets/templates/admin/content/faq.editor.twig:296\n\n\nAffected version: 4.2.0-alpha, commit f0dc86c8f\n\n\n### PoC\n**The reproduction of the vulnerability was implemented with the help of AI while reviewing the source code to generate the proof-of-concept. Please kindly note this for reference. Since the vulnerability has already been confirmed directly in the source code, the proof-of-concept code may be considered as a reference only.**\n\nPlease extract the attached compressed file and proceed.\n[poc.zip](https://github.com/user-attachments/files/25938058/poc.zip)\n\n\n0. (docker compose -f docker-compose.yml down -v)\n1. docker compose -f docker-compose.yml up -d mariadb php-fpm nginx\n2. bash exploit.sh\n-----\n1. Access http://localhost:8888/admin/\n2. Log in with admin / Admin1234!\n3. After logging in, check whether the URL remains http://localhost:8888/admin/\n4. Go to Content → FAQ Administration → edit \"poc\" → alert popup should appear\nIf it does not appear, you can also access it directly via:\nhttp://localhost:8888/admin/faq/edit/1/en\n\n\n\n\n\n\n### Impact\nWhen an administrator opens /admin/faq/edit/{id}/{lang} to review the pending FAQ, the injected script executes in the admin's browser context. This allows an attacker to:\n\n- Steal the administrator's session cookie → full admin account takeover\n- Perform arbitrary admin actions (create users, modify content, change configuration)\n- Pivot to further attacks on the server\n\nThe attack chain requires no authentication. By default, records.allowNewFaqsForGuests=true allows unauthenticated FAQ submission, and records.defaultActivation=false guarantees the administrator must visit the edit page to review it.\n\nNote on captcha: The built-in captcha is enabled by default when the PHP gd extension is present (spam.enableCaptchaCode=true). This prevents fully automated exploitation but does not prevent a targeted manual attack — an attacker can solve the captcha once and submit the payload. \n\n### Credits\nwooseokdotkim","severity":"medium","score":5.4,"published":"2026-03-31T22:48:45.000Z","modified":"2026-04-06T17:38:57.060Z","withdrawn":false,"knownExploited":false,"affected":[{"ecosystem":"Packagist","name":"thorsten/phpmyfaq","ranges":[{"events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"4.1.1"}],"type":"ECOSYSTEM"}],"versions":["2.10.0-alpha","2.8.0","2.8.0-RC","2.8.0-RC2","2.8.0-RC3","2.8.0-RC4","2.8.0-alpha2","2.8.0-alpha3","2.8.0-beta","2.8.0-beta2","2.8.0-beta3","2.8.1","2.8.10","2.8.11","2.8.12","2.8.13","2.8.14","2.8.15","2.8.16","2.8.17","2.8.18","2.8.19","2.8.2","2.8.20","2.8.21","2.8.22","2.8.23","2.8.24","2.8.25","2.8.26","2.8.27","2.8.28","2.8.29","2.8.3","2.8.4","2.8.5","2.8.6","2.8.7","2.8.8","2.8.9","2.9.0","2.9.0-alpha","2.9.0-alpha2","2.9.0-alpha3","2.9.0-alpha4","2.9.0-beta","2.9.0-beta2","2.9.0-rc","2.9.0-rc2","2.9.0-rc3","2.9.0-rc4","2.9.1","2.9.10","2.9.11","2.9.12","2.9.13","2.9.2","2.9.3","2.9.4","2.9.5","2.9.6","2.9.7","2.9.8","2.9.9","3.0.0","3.0.0-RC","3.0.0-RC.2","3.0.0-alpha","3.0.0-alpha.2","3.0.0-alpha.3","3.0.0-alpha.4","3.0.0-beta","3.0.0-beta.2","3.0.0-beta.3","3.0.1","3.0.10","3.0.11","3.0.12","3.0.2","3.0.3","3.0.4","3.0.5","3.0.6","3.0.7","3.0.8","3.0.9","3.1.0","3.1.0-RC","3.1.0-alpha","3.1.0-alpha.2","3.1.0-alpha.3","3.1.0-beta","3.1.1","3.1.10","3.1.11","3.1.12","3.1.13","3.1.14","3.1.15","3.1.16","3.1.17","3.1.18","3.1.2","3.1.3","3.1.4","3.1.5","3.1.6","3.1.7","3.1.8","3.1.9","3.2.0","3.2.0-RC","3.2.0-RC.2","3.2.0-RC.4","3.2.0-alpha","3.2.0-beta","3.2.0-beta.2","3.2.1","3.2.10","3.2.2","3.2.3","3.2.4","3.2.5","3.2.6","3.2.7","3.2.8","3.2.9","4.0.0","4.0.0-RC","4.0.0-RC.2","4.0.0-RC.3","4.0.0-RC.4","4.0.0-RC.5","4.0.0-alpha","4.0.0-alpha.2","4.0.0-alpha.3","4.0.0-alpha.4","4.0.0-beta","4.0.0-beta.2","4.0.1","4.0.10","4.0.11","4.0.12","4.0.13","4.0.14","4.0.15","4.0.16","4.0.18","4.0.19","4.0.2","4.0.3","4.0.4","4.0.5","4.0.6","4.0.7","4.0.8","4.0.9","4.1.0","4.1.0-RC","4.1.0-RC.2","4.1.0-RC.4","4.1.0-RC.5","4.1.0-RC.6","4.1.0-RC.7","4.1.0-alpha","4.1.0-alpha.2","4.1.0-alpha.3","4.1.0-beta","4.1.0-beta.2"],"fixed":["4.1.1"]},{"ecosystem":"Packagist","name":"phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq","ranges":[{"events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"4.1.1"}],"type":"ECOSYSTEM"}],"versions":["2.10.0-alpha","2.8.0","2.8.0-RC","2.8.0-RC2","2.8.0-RC3","2.8.0-RC4","2.8.0-alpha2","2.8.0-alpha3","2.8.0-beta","2.8.0-beta2","2.8.0-beta3","2.8.1","2.8.10","2.8.11","2.8.12","2.8.13","2.8.14","2.8.15","2.8.16","2.8.17","2.8.18","2.8.19","2.8.2","2.8.20","2.8.21","2.8.22","2.8.23","2.8.24","2.8.25","2.8.26","2.8.27","2.8.28","2.8.29","2.8.3","2.8.4","2.8.5","2.8.6","2.8.7","2.8.8","2.8.9","2.9.0","2.9.0-alpha","2.9.0-alpha2","2.9.0-alpha3","2.9.0-alpha4","2.9.0-beta","2.9.0-beta2","2.9.0-rc","2.9.0-rc2","2.9.0-rc3","2.9.0-rc4","2.9.1","2.9.10","2.9.11","2.9.12","2.9.13","2.9.2","2.9.3","2.9.4","2.9.5","2.9.6","2.9.7","2.9.8","2.9.9","3.0.0","3.0.0-RC","3.0.0-RC.2","3.0.0-alpha","3.0.0-alpha.2","3.0.0-alpha.3","3.0.0-alpha.4","3.0.0-beta","3.0.0-beta.2","3.0.0-beta.3","3.0.1","3.0.10","3.0.11","3.0.12","3.0.2","3.0.3","3.0.4","3.0.5","3.0.6","3.0.7","3.0.8","3.0.9","3.1.0","3.1.0-RC","3.1.0-alpha","3.1.0-alpha.2","3.1.0-alpha.3","3.1.0-beta","3.1.1","3.1.10","3.1.11","3.1.12","3.1.13","3.1.14","3.1.15","3.1.16","3.1.17","3.1.18","3.1.2","3.1.3","3.1.4","3.1.5","3.1.6","3.1.7","3.1.8","3.1.9","3.2.0","3.2.0-RC","3.2.0-RC.2","3.2.0-RC.4","3.2.0-alpha","3.2.0-beta","3.2.0-beta.2","3.2.1","3.2.10","3.2.2","3.2.3","3.2.4","3.2.5","3.2.6","3.2.7","3.2.8","3.2.9","4.0.0","4.0.0-RC","4.0.0-RC.2","4.0.0-RC.3","4.0.0-RC.4","4.0.0-RC.5","4.0.0-alpha","4.0.0-alpha.2","4.0.0-alpha.3","4.0.0-alpha.4","4.0.0-beta","4.0.0-beta.2","4.0.1","4.0.10","4.0.11","4.0.12","4.0.13","4.0.14","4.0.15","4.0.16","4.0.18","4.0.19","4.0.2","4.0.3","4.0.4","4.0.5","4.0.6","4.0.7","4.0.8","4.0.9","4.1.0","4.1.0-RC","4.1.0-RC.2","4.1.0-RC.4","4.1.0-RC.5","4.1.0-RC.6","4.1.0-RC.7","4.1.0-alpha","4.1.0-alpha.2","4.1.0-alpha.3","4.1.0-beta","4.1.0-beta.2"],"fixed":["4.1.1"]}],"references":["https://github.com/thorsten/phpMyFAQ/security/advisories/GHSA-98gw-w575-h2ph","https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-32629","https://github.com/thorsten/phpMyFAQ","https://github.com/thorsten/phpMyFAQ/releases/tag/4.1.1"],"sources":[{"name":"OSV","id":"GHSA-98gw-w575-h2ph","modified":"2026-04-06T17:38:57.060243Z","url":"https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-98gw-w575-h2ph"}],"assessments":[{"source":"OSV","vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:N/E:P","score":5.4}]}