Privilege Escalation in phpMyFAQ (CVE-2026-57995)
Summary
Vulnerability in phpMyFAQ (CVE-2026-57995). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
Overview
When phpMyFAQ hardened its admin permission-assignment endpoints against privilege escalation, it added a "a non-SuperAdmin may only assign rights they themselves hold" constraint to the user-rights endpoint (UserController::updateUserRights). The equivalent group-rights endpoint, GroupController::updatePermissions, did not receive that constraint. A delegated administrator holding only the GROUP_EDIT permission can therefore grant any group an arbitrary set of rights — including rights the administrator does not possess — and, by being (or becoming) a member of that group, inherit those rights, escalating to higher privileges up to full administrative control.
Impact
phpMyFAQ supports delegated administration: the GROUP_EDIT right can be granted to a non-SuperAdmin so they can manage groups. Such an administrator can escalate:
- They call
POST /admin/group/update/permissionswithgroup_idset to a group they belong to (or can manage membership of) andgroup_rights[]containing high-value rights they do not themselves hold (e.g. user administration, or any right gating sensitive actions). - The endpoint grants every requested right to the group with no check that the caller holds them.
- Members of that group — including the attacker — inherit the granted rights, escalating the attacker's effective privileges.
This is the group-side mirror of exactly what the maintainers blocked on the user-rights side, where the code comment names…
Source: GitHub Security Advisories (Global) NVD GitHub Advisory
Auto-generated summary
Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.
A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2026-57995 has been found in phpMyFAQ.
Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover. CVSS score: 8.8/10.
What to do: apply the vendor's official patched release.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "phpMyFAQ CVE-2026-57995" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2026-57995 (phpMyFAQ) — CWE-269 / CVSS v3 8.8
Attack vector: remote (network-reachable) / no user interaction
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.
A vulnerability (CWE-269) exists in phpMyFAQ.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of phpMyFAQ.
Severity: High (CVSS 8.8/10). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
Update to the patched release per vendor advisory.
Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.
Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'phpMyFAQ' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
-
1Identify exposure identify
grep -r 'phpMyFAQ' . | grep -v node_modulesリポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で
phpMyFAQを grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。 -
2Post-deployment verification verify
Confirm patched version is live in productionパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。
Affected packages
References
- package github.com
- web github.com
- web nvd.nist.gov
- web disclosure@vulncheck.com
- web github.com
- web github.com