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phpMyFAQ EUVDEUVD-2026-62448

| CVE-2026-76207 HIGH
Missing Critical Step in Authentication (CWE-304)
2026-08-19 VulnCheck GHSA-jvxm-3fc5-8pjr
8.6
CVSS 4.0 · Vendor: VulnCheck
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Obtain valid phpMyFAQ credentials
  2. Delivery
    Initiate login to trigger remember-me token issuance
  3. Exploit
    Capture remember-me cookie before 2FA prompt
  4. Execution
    Abandon 2FA challenge
  5. Persist
    Replay remember-me cookie in new session
  6. Impact
    Gain full authenticated access bypassing 2FA

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A07:2025 - Authentication Failures
ASVS 5.0
V6 - Authentication Critical step enforcement
Exploitation Conditions

Exploitation requires two specific conditions to be met: first, the attacker must possess valid first-factor credentials (username and password) for a phpMyFAQ account - PR:L in the CVSS 4.0 vector confirms this low-privilege authentication prerequisite; second, the remember-me feature must be available and used during the authentication flow, since the vulnerability is specifically in the premature issuance of the remember-me token. Deployments where 2FA is enforced are the intended protection target and are precisely those affected. Exploitation is limited to accounts where the attacker already holds the first-factor credentials; this is not exploitable against accounts for which the attacker has no credentials at all. There is no requirement for a specific OS, hosting configuration, or network position beyond the ability to reach the phpMyFAQ login endpoint over the network.

Impact

The CVSS 4.0 score of 8.6 (AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N) is well-calibrated: network-accessible, low complexity, no availability impact, but high confidentiality and integrity impact reflecting full account takeover potential. The PR:L rating correctly reflects that exploitation requires valid first-factor credentials - this is not an unauthenticated attack. Real-world risk is meaningfully bounded by that prerequisite: an attacker must first possess or compromise a valid username and password before the 2FA bypass becomes useful. This makes the vulnerability most dangerous in scenarios involving credential stuffing, phishing, or prior credential leaks targeting phpMyFAQ user accounts. No CISA KEV listing and no public POC are present, and EPSS data was not provided. Despite the high CVSS score, this is not a fire-drill priority for organizations without phpMyFAQ deployed, and even for affected deployments the risk is conditional on credential exposure - however, for any deployment where 2FA was explicitly enabled to compensate for credential risk, the control is now ineffective and remediation is urgent.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An attacker who has obtained valid phpMyFAQ credentials - through phishing, credential stuffing, or a prior data breach - initiates a login, captures the remember-me cookie issued by the server before the 2FA prompt is presented, and then abandons the login flow without completing the second factor. The attacker subsequently replays the captured cookie in a new HTTP request, gaining full authenticated access to the phpMyFAQ admin or user interface without ever providing a valid TOTP or other second-factor token. No exploit code is required beyond a standard HTTP client capable of storing and replaying cookies.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).
Patch available 0.3% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Aug 19, 2026

Two-factor authentication bypass in phpMyFAQ before 4.1.7 allows any attacker holding valid first-factor credentials to obtain a remember-me cookie prior to 2FA challenge completion, then replay that cookie to achieve full authenticated access while entirely circumventing the second-factor control. Affected deployments relying on 2FA as their primary defense-in-depth layer against credential compromise are effectively left with single-factor authentication. No public exploit code or CISA KEV listing has been identified at time of analysis, though the bypass logic is straightforward and the vulnerability is trivially reproducible given valid credentials.

RemediationAI

Upgrade to phpMyFAQ 4.1.7 or later, which corrects the ordering flaw by ensuring remember-me tokens are not issued until after successful completion of 2FA verification. The fix is detailed in the GitHub Security Advisory at https://github.com/thorsten/phpMyFAQ/security/advisories/GHSA-hvj7-4fmg-53cr. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, the most effective compensating control is to disable the remember-me functionality in phpMyFAQ configuration, eliminating the attack surface entirely - note this will degrade user experience by requiring full re-authentication on each session. As a secondary measure, invalidate all existing remember-me cookies/tokens for all users, as any tokens issued to accounts that logged in before the patch was applied may already be compromised. Do not rely on password resets alone, as the vulnerability lies in the token issuance logic, not credential storage.

Affected VersionsENISA

phpMyFAQ 0 <4.1.7

Affected Packages

euvd phpmyfaq fix: 4.1.7

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

phpMyFAQ (CPE: cpe:2.3:a:thorsten:phpmyfaq:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*) is a PHP-based open-source FAQ management system maintained by Thorsten Rinne. The root cause is CWE-304 (Missing Critical Step in Authentication), a class of flaw where a multi-step authentication flow issues a persistent session artifact - in this case a remember-me cookie - before all required steps have been completed. The protocol flaw is in the ordering of server-side operations: the application issues the long-lived remember-me token immediately after first-factor credential validation rather than deferring issuance until full MFA verification succeeds. Because the cookie is valid and accepted on subsequent requests, the attacker can bypass the pending 2FA challenge entirely by simply presenting the prematurely issued cookie, effectively collapsing a two-factor flow back to single-factor.

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Severity by source

Vendor (VulnCheck) PRIMARY 8.6 HIGH
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
vuln.today AI 8.1 HIGH

Network-reachable via cookie replay with low-privilege credentials required; full C/I account takeover but no availability impact and no scope change.

3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Primary rating from Vendor (VulnCheck).

CVSS VectorVendor: VulnCheck

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Attack Requirements
None
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Vulnerable system: Confidentiality
High
Vulnerable system: Integrity
High
Vulnerable system: Availability
None
Subsequent system: Confidentiality
None
Subsequent system: Integrity
None
Subsequent system: Availability
None

Lifecycle Timeline

2
Patch available
Aug 19, 2026 - 15:17 EUVD
CVE Published
Aug 19, 2026 - 14:01 cve.org
HIGH 8.6

DescriptionCVE.org

phpMyFAQ before 4.1.7 contains a two-factor authentication bypass vulnerability where remember-me tokens are issued before 2FA verification completes. Attackers with valid credentials can obtain a remember-me cookie, skip the 2FA challenge, and replay the cookie to gain full authenticated access without second-factor verification.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

phpMyFAQ prior to version 4.1.7 allows attackers who have obtained valid user credentials to bypass two-factor authentication entirely and gain full system access without providing a second authentication factor. Organizations that depend on 2FA as a primary defense against compromised credentials now face the risk that a single stolen password grants complete system access, effectively reducing their security posture to single-factor authentication. Immediate remediation is required as no vendor patch is currently available.

Business Impact: High
Compensating Controls

No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis. Interim mitigations include: (1) temporarily disabling 2FA and strengthening primary authentication through IP restriction, require secondary validation of administrative actions, or single sign-on enforcement; (2) deploying WAF rules to block malicious remember-me cookie usage patterns; (3) implementing enhanced session monitoring and anomaly detection for unauthorized access attempts; (4) restricting phpMyFAQ access to specific network segments with additional logging and alerting.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.3%
Top 81% exploitable
Prevalence
Low
niche open-source PHP FAQ system, limited enterprise deployment
Data Quality
5 sources
Confidence: Medium

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.

SignalValue
Severity HIGH
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.3%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable· derived
No
Human Impact
High

Priority Score

43
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +43
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.

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