phpMyFAQ: Ordinary Authenticated User Can Access Admin-Only API Endpoints Due to Insufficient Authorization Check in phpMyFAQ

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS

4.3 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

EPSS

• CVE-2026-45009: 0.21% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 11.31 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Summary A review of phpMyFAQ-main uncovered an authorization issue in the admin-api routes. Several backend endpoints only check whether the caller is logged in. They do not verify that the caller actually has backend or administrative privileges. As a result, a normal frontend user can access API endpoints that are clearly intended for administrative use. During local reproduction, a regular user account was able to request /admin/api/index.php/dashboard/versions and receive a successful response from the backend management API. This issue does not appear to give direct write access in the affected paths that were confirmed, so it should be treated as a backend information disclosure and privilege boundary failure rather than full admin compromise. Details The access control split is visible in the controller base class: The problem is that several Administration\Api controllers use the weaker check even though the routes sit under the backend API namespace. For example,…

Published by the source

6 May 2026, 20:37 UTC

Last modified by the source

9 Jun 2026, 00:01 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 14:48 UTC

1. Revision 1 · created · 26 Oct 2026

   Published from ghsa record GHSA-jrc5-w569-h7h5

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2026-45009

Advisory: phpMyFAQ: Ordinary Authenticated User Can Access Admin-Only API Endpoints Due to Insufficient Authorization Check in phpMyFAQ
IDs: CVE-2026-45009, GHSA-jrc5-w569-h7h5
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2026-45009 (revision 1, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 14:48 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Medium (CVSS 4.3)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq 4.1.2; thorsten/phpmyfaq 4.1.2. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Packagist phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq: affected >= 4.1.1, <= 4.1.1; fixed in 4.1.2
- Packagist thorsten/phpmyfaq: affected >= 4.1.1, <= 4.1.1; fixed in 4.1.2

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Packagist phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq: check the installed version with your package manager.
- Packagist thorsten/phpmyfaq: check the installed version with your package manager.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq, thorsten/phpmyfaq.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-jrc5-w569-h7h5 (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-jrc5-w569-h7h5 lists affected ranges: Packagist thorsten/phpmyfaq >=4.1.1 =4.1.1 <=4.1.1)

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