Vulnerabilities

phpMyFAQ before 4.1.7 improperly restricts excessive authentication attempts (CWE-307): the two-factor authentication failure counter is scoped to the session and is reset every time the user successfully re-authenticates with their password. An attacker who already possesses a valid password can therefore bypass the five-attempt limit by repeatedly opening a fresh session and re-submitting the password before each TOTP guess, resetting the counter each time. This enables unbounded guessing of TOTP codes until one is accepted, defeating the second factor and giving the attacker full access to the protected account. Only phpMyFAQ deployments running versions prior to 4.1.7 with TOTP-based two-factor authentication enabled are affected, and the attack requires network access to the login endpoint plus valid user credentials (CVSS 4.0 9.1 Critical, vector AV:N/AC:H/AT:P). There is one public advisory/PoC reference (GHSA-f98m-hcjv-7rp9) but no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation: the flaw is not in CISA KEV and EPSS is 0.3% (26th percentile).

Do: Upgrade to phpMyFAQ 4.1.7 or later. Until patched, apply rate limiting or lockouts to the login/2FA endpoints at a reverse proxy or WAF, review 2FA failure logs for repeated failures from a single source, and prioritize accounts with potentially compromised passwords, since exploitation requires a valid password.

phpMyFAQ is an open source FAQ web application. Prior to version 4.1.1, the MediaBrowserController::index() method handles file deletion for the media browser. When the fileRemove action is triggered, the user-supplied name parameter is concatenated with the base upload directory path without any path traversal validation. The FILTER_SANITIZE_SPECIAL_CHARS filter only encodes HTML special characters (&, ', ", ) and characters with ASCII value < 32, and does not prevent directory traversal sequences like ../. Additionally, the endpoint does not validate CSRF tokens, making it exploitable via CSRF attacks. This issue has been patched in version 4.1.1.

phpMyFAQ is an open source FAQ web application. Prior to version 4.0.18, the WebAuthn prepare endpoint (`/api/webauthn/prepare`) creates new active user accounts without any authentication, CSRF protection, captcha, or configuration checks. This allows unauthenticated attackers to create unlimited user accounts even when registration is disabled. Version 4.0.18 fixes the issue.

phpMyFAQ is an open source FAQ web application. In versions 4.0.16 and below, multiple public API endpoints improperly expose sensitive user information due to insufficient access controls. The OpenQuestionController::list() endpoint calls Question::getAll() with showAll=true by default, returning records marked as non-public (isVisible=false) along with user email addresses, with similar exposures present in comment, news, and FAQ APIs. This information disclosure vulnerability could enable attackers to harvest email addresses for phishing campaigns or access content that was explicitly marked as private. This issue has been fixed in version 4.0.17.

phpMyFAQ is an open source FAQ web application. In versions prior to 4.0.16, an unauthenticated remote attacker can trigger generation of a configuration backup ZIP via `POST /api/setup/backup` and then download the generated ZIP from a web-accessible location. The ZIP contains sensitive configuration files (e.g., `database.php` with database credentials), leading to high-impact information disclosure and potential follow-on compromise. Version 4.0.16 fixes the issue.

phpMyFAQ 3.1.12 contains a CSV injection vulnerability that allows authenticated users to inject malicious formulas into their profile names. Attackers can modify their user profile name with a payload like 'calc|a!z|' to trigger code execution when an administrator exports user data as a CSV file.

phpMyFAQ is an open source FAQ web application. Prior to version 4.0.14, an authenticated SQL injection vulnerability in the main configuration update functionality of phpMyFAQ allows a privileged user with 'Configuration Edit' permissions to execute arbitrary SQL commands. Successful exploitation can lead to a full compromise of the database, including reading, modifying, or deleting all data, as well as potential remote code execution depending on the database configuration. This issue has been patched in version 4.0.14.

phpMyFAQ is an open source FAQ web application. Versions 4.0-nightly-2025-10-03 and below do not enforce uniqueness of email addresses during user registration. This allows multiple distinct accounts to be created with the same email. Because email is often used as an identifier for password resets, notifications, and administrative actions, this flaw can cause account ambiguity and, in certain configurations, may lead to privilege escalation or account takeover. This issue is fixed in version 4.0.13.

phpMyFAQ is an open source FAQ web application. Starting no later than version 3.2.10 and prior to version 4.0.2, an attacker can inject malicious HTML content into the FAQ editor at `http[:]//localhost/admin/index[.]php?action=editentry`, resulting in a complete disruption of the FAQ page's user interface. By injecting malformed HTML elements styled to cover the entire screen, an attacker can render the page unusable. This injection manipulates the page structure by introducing overlapping buttons, images, and iframes, breaking the intended layout and functionality. Exploiting this issue can lead to Denial of Service for legitimate users, damage to the user experience, and potential abuse in phishing or defacement attacks. Version 4.0.2 contains a patch for the vulnerability.

phpMyFAQ is an open source FAQ web application. Prior to version 3.2.10, a vulnerability exists in the FAQ Record component where a privileged attacker can trigger a file download on a victim's machine upon page visit by embedding it in an element without user interaction or explicit consent. Version 3.2.10 fixes the issue.

phpMyFAQ is an open source FAQ web application for PHP 8.1+ and MySQL, PostgreSQL and other databases. Prior to 4.0.0, phpMyFAQ exposes the database (ie postgreSQL) server's credential when connection to DB fails. This vulnerability is fixed in 4.0.0.

phpMyFAQ is an open source FAQ web application for PHP 8.1+ and MySQL, PostgreSQL and other databases. There is a Path Traversal vulnerability in Attachments that allows attackers with admin rights to upload malicious files to other locations of the web root. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.2.6.

phpMyFAQ is an open source FAQ web application for PHP 8.1+ and MySQL, PostgreSQL and other databases. A SQL injection vulnerability has been discovered in the the "Add News" functionality due to improper escaping of the email address. This allows any authenticated user with the rights to add/edit FAQ news to exploit this vulnerability to exfiltrate data, take over accounts and in some cases, even achieve RCE. The vulnerable field lies in the `authorEmail` field which uses PHP's `FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL` filter. This filter is insufficient in protecting against SQL injection attacks and should still be properly escaped. However, in this version of phpMyFAQ (3.2.5), this field is not escaped properly can be used together with other fields to fully exploit the SQL injection vulnerability. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.2.6.

phpMyFAQ is an Open Source FAQ web application for PHP 8.1+ and MySQL, PostgreSQL and other databases. The 'sharing FAQ' functionality allows any unauthenticated actor to misuse the phpMyFAQ application to send arbitrary emails to a large range of targets. The phpMyFAQ application has a functionality where anyone can share a FAQ item to others. The front-end of this functionality allows any phpMyFAQ articles to be shared with 5 email addresses. Any unauthenticated actor can perform this action. There is a CAPTCHA in place, however the amount of people you email with a single request is not limited to 5 by the backend. An attacker can thus solve a single CAPTCHA and send thousands of emails at once. An attacker can utilize the target application's email server to send phishing messages. This can get the server on a blacklist, causing all emails to end up in spam. It can also lead to reputation damages. This issue has been patched in version 3.2.5.

Cross-site Scripting (XSS) - Stored in GitHub repository thorsten/phpmyfaq prior to 3.1.17.

Insufficient Session Expiration in GitHub repository thorsten/phpmyfaq prior to 3.2.2.

Cross-site Scripting (XSS) - DOM in GitHub repository thorsten/phpmyfaq prior to 3.1.18.