Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessLure privileged user to malicious page
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DeliveryBrowser auto-submits forged admin request
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ExploitElasticsearch/OpenSearch endpoint skips CSRF check
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ExecutionDrop or re-index search index
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ImpactSearch unavailable / resources exhausted
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V3 - Web Frontend Security Anti-CSRF tokens, SameSite cookies
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Initial Access The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires a victim who is both currently authenticated to phpMyFAQ and holds the CONFIGURATION_EDIT permission, and who is successfully lured to an attacker-controlled page while that session is active (UI:P). The vulnerable surface is specifically the Elasticsearch and OpenSearch administration API endpoints for the create, drop, and import index actions, which omit CSRF token validation. Limiting factors: the attack cannot succeed against unauthenticated or low-privilege users, depends on social-engineering a specific privileged administrator, and only affects instances that have the Elasticsearch/OpenSearch search integration configured and in use. Versions at or above 4.1.9 (or 4.2.0-beta for the alpha branch) are not affected. |
| Impact | This is a CWE-352 cross-site request forgery flaw with a moderate CVSS 4.0 base score of 7.1. The provided vector (AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H) tells a coherent story: the attacker needs no privileges of their own (PR:N) and no special attack requirements, but the attack hinges on passive user interaction (UI:P) - a logged-in victim holding CONFIGURATION_EDIT permission must be lured to a malicious page. The impact is availability-only (VA:H), with no confidentiality or integrity loss (VC:N/VI:N), which matches the described consequences of deleting/re-indexing search indexes and resource exhaustion. No EPSS score, no CISA KEV listing, and no public exploit were provided; by the precision rules this is 'no public exploit identified at time of analysis.' The absence of KEV and EPSS data means real-world exploitation likelihood cannot be quantified from the input. Overall this is a genuine but bounded issue: the CSRF is trivially craftable (AC:L, PR:N), yet exploitation is gated on social-engineering a specific privileged user, and the damage is limited to search-availability disruption rather than code execution or data theft. It is a legitimate fix-in-a-maintenance-window priority, not an emergency, and the high VA:H should not be read as broad criticality given the privileged-victim precondition and availability-only scope. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker crafts a web page containing an auto-submitting form or image tag pointing at the phpMyFAQ Elasticsearch/OpenSearch admin create, drop, or import endpoint, then lures an authenticated administrator with CONFIGURATION_EDIT permission to visit it. Because the endpoints do not validate a CSRF token, the victim's browser silently issues the request, dropping or forcibly re-indexing the search index and degrading or exhausting search functionality. No public exploit code was identified in the provided data, though the attack is simple to reproduce given the described missing token check. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Oct 17, 2026
Cross-site request forgery in phpMyFAQ before 4.1.9 and 4.2.0-alpha before 4.2.0-beta allows an attacker to induce a privileged administrator into deleting or rebuilding Elasticsearch/OpenSearch indexes through the administration API. The flaw affects only instances with the Elasticsearch/OpenSearch integration configured; the attacker must lure a victim who is logged in with CONFIGURATION_EDIT permission to a malicious page, whereupon the create, drop, and import actions execute without CSRF token validation. No public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis, and the CVSS 4.0 base score is 7.1.
RemediationAI
Upgrade phpMyFAQ to 4.1.9 or later, or to 4.2.0-beta or later for the 4.2.0-alpha branch, which adds CSRF token validation to the Elasticsearch/OpenSearch admin API index actions; vendor guidance is available at https://github.com/thorsten/phpMyFAQ/security/advisories/GHSA-cmvh-fpmf-8gfx. If immediate upgrade is not possible, disable the Elasticsearch/OpenSearch search integration in the phpMyFAQ configuration, which removes the vulnerable admin endpoints but also disables search indexing and querying. As an additional control, restrict access to the phpMyFAQ admin panel to trusted networks or require administrators to log out when not actively administering the site; note that network restrictions may not block an attacker on the same network, and logout reduces but does not eliminate the window of exposure.
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
CWE-352 (Cross-Site Request Forgery) occurs because the application relies on ambient session authentication for state-changing requests without requiring a synchronizer token or equivalent anti-CSRF measure. The specific vulnerable surface is the Elasticsearch and OpenSearch administration API endpoints for the create, drop, and import index actions, which perform index lifecycle operations but omit CSRF token validation. Because those actions are reachable via cross-origin requests, a malicious page can silently submit them on behalf of a logged-in administrator. The CVSS vector shows PR:N, meaning the attacker does not need credentials, but exploitation still requires a victim with an active authenticated session and CONFIGURATION_EDIT permission to be lured to the attacker-controlled page. The vulnerability is limited to deployments that have configured the Elasticsearch/OpenSearch integration; instances without that integration do not expose the vulnerable code path. CPE data identifies the affected package as thorsten:phpmyfaq.
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Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Network-delivered CSRF needs no attacker privileges (PR:N) but requires luring a logged-in admin (UI:R); impact is availability-only (A:H) from index deletion/re-indexing, with no confidentiality or integrity loss.
Primary rating from Vendor (VulnCheck).
CVSS VectorVendor: VulnCheck
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
phpMyFAQ before 4.1.9 and 4.2.0-alpha before 4.2.0-beta contains a cross-site request forgery vulnerability in the Elasticsearch and OpenSearch administration API endpoints, which do not validate a CSRF token for the create, drop, and import actions. Attackers can lure a user with CONFIGURATION_EDIT permission to a malicious page that triggers these actions, deleting search indexes, forcing re-indexing, or exhausting resources.
Technical POC Analysis
CWE-352 (Cross-Site Request Forgery), first-party application logic in phpMyFAQ's admin API controllers.
Full technical POC analysis - root cause, step-by-step exploitation and patch breakdown - is part of the Pro and Business plans.
Executive ViewAI
phpMyFAQ deployments with Elasticsearch/OpenSearch integration face a high-severity cross-site request forgery flaw that could allow an attacker to trick a privileged administrator into deleting or rebuilding search indexes, causing data loss and operational disruption. Leadership should prioritize this because the attack relies on a simple lure to a malicious page and a logged-in admin with CONFIGURATION_EDIT permission; no public exploit identified at time of analysis, but the destructive potential warrants immediate attention.
Disable the Elasticsearch/OpenSearch integration if not essential; restrict CONFIGURATION_EDIT permission to trusted administrators; enforce SameSite cookie attributes and CSRF token validation where feasible; segment administrative interfaces; monitor for unexpected index create, drop, or import actions.
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
Cross-Site Request Forgery exploits the automatic credential inclusion behavior of web browsers.
Duplicate-email registration handling in phpMyFAQ 4.0.7 through 4.0.13 (and 4.0-nightly-2025-10-03 and earlier) lets una
Insufficient Session Expiration in GitHub repository thorsten/phpmyfaq prior to 3.2.2. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8
Authentication Bypass by Capture-replay in GitHub repository thorsten/phpmyfaq prior to 3.1.12. Rated critical severity
Weak Password Requirements in GitHub repository thorsten/phpmyfaq prior to 3.1.12. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), t
Weak Password Requirements in GitHub repository thorsten/phpmyfaq prior to 3.1.8. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), th
Unauthenticated SQL injection in phpMyFAQ before 4.1.2 allows remote attackers to extract credentials, admin tokens, and
In phpMyFAQ before 2.9.9, there is Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) in admin/stat.ratings.php. Rated high severity (CVS
In phpMyFaq before 2.9.9, there is CSRF in admin/ajax.config.php. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is
In phpMyFAQ before 2.9.9, there is Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) for modifying a glossary. Rated high severity (CVSS
In phpMyFAQ before 2.9.9, there is Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) in admin/stat.main.php. Rated high severity (CVSS 8
phpMyFAQ is an open source FAQ web application for PHP 8.1+ and MySQL, PostgreSQL and other databases. Rated high severi
phpMyFAQ is an open source FAQ web application for PHP 8.1+ and MySQL, PostgreSQL and other databases. Rated high severi
EUVD-2026-103314
GHSA-4qjm-33q6-wmgj
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
VulDB
Exploit-DB