Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A07:2025 - Authentication Failures
ASVS 5.0
V6 - Authentication Authentication mechanism validation
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Defense Evasion, Initial Access The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | The CVSS 4.0 score of 9.3 reflects critical severity with maximum exploitability characteristics: network-accessible attack vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), no attack requirements (AT:N), no privileges required (PR:N), and no user interaction needed (UI:N). The vulnerability enables complete compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability (VC:H/VI:H/VA:H) for the vulnerable system. Real-world risk is elevated because authentication bypass vulnerabilities are high-value targets and passkey implementations are relatively new, meaning exploitation techniques may not require sophisticated tooling. However, risk is somewhat mitigated by the specific requirement that target accounts must have passkeys enabled, limiting the attack surface to a subset of users. Without EPSS data or KEV listing, exploitation likelihood in the wild cannot be quantified, but the combination of unauthenticated remote access, low complexity, and authentication bypass classification makes this a priority remediation target for any XenForo deployment using passkey authentication. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker identifies a XenForo forum running a vulnerable version and enumerates user accounts that have passkeys enabled through registration patterns or public profile information. Exploiting the authentication bypass vulnerability, the attacker crafts malicious authentication requests that circumvent proper passkey validation, allowing them to authenticate as the target user without possessing their private key or device. Once authenticated, the attacker gains complete access to the victim's account, including private messages, administrative capabilities if the account has elevated privileges, and the ability to modify account settings or post content as the compromised user. The attack requires no user interaction and can be automated to target multiple accounts across vulnerable XenForo installations. |
Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.
Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Apr 01, 2026
Authentication bypass in XenForo versions prior to 2.3.7 compromises passkey-based authentication, allowing remote unauthenticated attackers to bypass security controls protecting passkey-enabled user accounts. No public exploit identified at time of analysis, though EPSS data not available. The vulnerability affects a critical authentication mechanism (WebAuthn/passkeys), representing a high-severity threat to forum platforms relying on this modern authentication method.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: XenForo 2.3.7. Administrators should immediately upgrade all XenForo installations to version 2.3.7 or later, which includes security fixes addressing the passkey authentication bypass. The official vendor advisory with upgrade instructions is available at https://xenforo.com/community/threads/xenforo-2-3-7-released-includes-security-fixes.232121/. As an interim measure if immediate patching is not feasible, administrators may consider temporarily disabling passkey authentication functionality until the upgrade can be completed, though this should be balanced against user experience impacts. Review authentication logs for any suspicious passkey authentication attempts prior to patching, particularly successful logins for passkey-enabled accounts during unusual timeframes or from unexpected locations.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
XenForo is a commercial forum software platform that implemented passkey support for WebAuthn-based passwordless authentication. This vulnerability is classified as CWE-287 (Improper Authentication), indicating a fundamental flaw in how the platform validates passkey authentication attempts. Passkeys leverage public key cryptography where the private key remains on the user's device and the public key is stored server-side. The vulnerability suggests improper validation of the authentication ceremony, signature verification, or challenge-response mechanism, potentially allowing attackers to authenticate as passkey-enabled users without possessing the legitimate credential. The affected product is identified by CPE cpe:2.3:a:xenforo:xenforo:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*, indicating all XenForo versions prior to the patched release are vulnerable.
Know when Xenforo gets its next vulnerability
- Watch products and get an email when something new is published
- Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
No credit card · 7-day full trial
Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
Lifecycle Timeline
3DescriptionCVE.org
XenForo before 2.3.7 contains a security issue affecting Passkeys that have been added to user accounts. An attacker may be able to compromise the security of Passkey-based authentication.
Executive ViewAI
XenForo versions before 2.3.7 contain a critical authentication bypass in passkey-based login that allows unauthenticated remote attackers to gain unauthorized account access. Organizations running affected XenForo forum installations face immediate risk of account compromise and potential data breach, particularly if passkeys are deployed as a primary authentication method for administrative or user accounts.
Apply vendor patch to version 2.3.7 or later. If immediate patching is impossible, disable passkey-based authentication temporarily and revert to password-only authentication until patch deployment is complete.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
Related Vulnerabilities in XenForo Multiple Security Issues
View all 9Xenforo before 2.2.16 allows code injection. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable,
Xenforo before 2.2.16 allows CSRF. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authen
Authentication bypass in XenForo before 2.3.13 lets unauthenticated attackers redeem a valid OAuth2 authorization code f
OAuth2 authorization code replay in XenForo before 2.3.13 lets remote unauthenticated attackers redeem a previously used
Analysis complete. The JSON synthesis is above. Two things worth flagging explicitly: 1. **Prompt injection ignored**
In XenForo through 2.2.7, a threat actor with access to the admin panel can create a new Advertisement via the Advertisi
Unauthenticated payment event forgery in XenForo before 2.3.13 stems from a logic error in the PayPal REST webhook signa
Unauthorized subscription upgrades in XenForo before 2.3.13 are achievable by replaying valid PayPal REST webhook payloa
Path traversal in XenForo's style archive importer on Windows deployments allows authenticated non-super administrators
EUVD-2025-209152
GHSA-gqgm-83rg-vhcj
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB