Pheditor: Authentication Bypass in Forced Password-Change Flow via Unverified Current Password

Exploitation

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

CVSS

10.0 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS

No dated EPSS signal available.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Summary The forced password-change flow, triggered when the stored password is still the default (admin), does not verify that the password submitted by the client actually matches the current password. Any non-empty value in pheditorpassword is enough to reach the password-change form, and submitting pheditornewpassword / pheditorconfirmpassword in the same request is enough to set an arbitrary new password and obtain an authenticated session — without ever proving knowledge of the current password. Root Cause pheditor.php line 163: This checks whether the stored PASSWORD constant is still the default value. It does not check whether the submitted pheditorpassword matches it. As a result, on any instance that hasn't changed the default password, the check passes regardless of what the client actually sends, and the subsequent password-change branch is reachable without authentication. PoC Impact On any instance where the default password has not yet been changed, an unauthenticated…

Published by the source

24 Jul 2026, 21:54 UTC

Last modified by the source

24 Jul 2026, 21:54 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 14:50 UTC

1. Revision 1 · created · 26 Oct 2026

   Published from ghsa record GHSA-f25v-x6vr-962g

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# Patch Next advisory brief: GHSA-f25v-x6vr-962g

Advisory: Pheditor: Authentication Bypass in Forced Password-Change Flow via Unverified Current Password
IDs: GHSA-f25v-x6vr-962g
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/ghsa-f25v-x6vr-962g (revision 1, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 14:50 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Critical (CVSS 10.0)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: pheditor/pheditor 2.0.8. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Packagist pheditor/pheditor: affected < 2.0.8; fixed in 2.0.8

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Packagist pheditor/pheditor: 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 pheditor/pheditor.
- 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-f25v-x6vr-962g (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-f25v-x6vr-962g lists affected ranges: Packagist pheditor/pheditor >=0 <2.0.8)

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