NVD / CVE Program· CNA VulnCheck

CVE-2026-66397: phpMyFAQ before 4.1.6 Path Traversal via category image deletion

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 34/100)

The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.48% (FIRST EPSS).
Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. Administrator privileges are required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
Fixed version: thorsten phpMyFAQ 4.1.6.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to thorsten phpMyFAQ 4.1.6 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

phpMyFAQ before 4.1.6 fails to validate path traversal sequences in the existing_image field during category updates, allowing authenticated attackers to delete arbitrary files by exploiting insufficient sanitization in Image::delete(). Attackers can delete the database.php configuration file to disable the installation gate and access the public setup wizard to create new superadmin accounts.

HighCVSS 8.6 · v4.0—No exploit Fix available

Path traversal

Published: Jul 27, 2026
Updated: Oct 24, 2026
EPSS: 0.4% · 40th percentile
CWE: CWE-22

Report tools

JSON

Action score

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS: 34 / 40 · 8.6 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 0 / 30 · 0.4%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation: proof of concept
Automatable: no
Technical impact: total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD: —
CNA · VulnCheck: 8.6; NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
No public exploit code on record
A fix has been released

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

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Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (VulnCheck). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

thorsten phpMyFAQ
- 4.1.6not affected
- before 4.1.6affected · semver

Same product

thorsten: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2026-46364phpMyFAQ - SQL Injection via User-Agent Header in BuiltinCaptcha
38Monitor
CVE-2026-111911phpMyFAQ 4.0.0 before 4.1.9 Authentication Bypass via WebAuthn Credential Injection
37Monitor
CVE-2026-66398phpMyFAQ before 4.1.6 Remote Code Execution via Configuration API
37Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2026-48488Jun 8, 2026 · phpMyFAQ has Weak Cryptography - SHA1 for Password Hashing
10Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2026-49205Jun 18, 2026 · phpMyFAQ: Missing userHasPermission() in 4 API write endpoints (CVE-2026-24421 Incomplete Fix)
26Monitor
Later →CVE-2026-66399Jul 27, 2026 · phpMyFAQ before 4.1.6 Privilege Escalation via Group Membership
34Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / package	Fixed version	Source
thorsten phpMyFAQ	4.1.6	Vendor (CNA)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

ImDuongreporter

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

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Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

CVE-2026-11191182 days apartphpMyFAQ 4.0.0 before 4.1.9 Authentication Bypass via WebAuthn Credential Injection
37Monitor
CVE-2026-3567560 days apartphpMyFAQ - Authentication Bypass via Missing Password Reset Token in /api/user/password/update
35Monitor
CVE-2026-3567260 days apartphpMyFAQ - Authentication Bypass via Empty API Token
34Monitor
CVE-2026-11188282 days apartphpMyFAQ 3.2.0-alpha before 4.1.9 and 4.2.0-alpha before 4.2.0-beta TOTP 2FA Bypass via SSO Callbacks
34Monitor

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
Administrator privileges are required.
No user action is required.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
Integrity
Availability

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: High
User interaction: None
Scope: X

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

CVSS vector

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

nvd-secondary

Root cause

A user-supplied file name is joined with the allowed directory, but the result is never checked to confirm it is still inside that directory.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-22 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

1const file = path.join(ROOT, req.query.name);
2res.sendFile(file);

Fixed

1const file = path.resolve(ROOT, req.query.name);
2if (!file.startsWith(ROOT + path.sep)) {
3  return res.sendStatus(400);
4}
5res.sendFile(file);

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Attack patterns (CAPEC)

ATT&CK techniques

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Change log

Fix✗ → ✓Sep 28, 2026, 10:11 PM UTC

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

github.com/thorsten/phpMyFAQ/security/advisories/GHSA-mh9w-5hr8-3272

Show all references (1 more)

www.vulncheck.com/advisories/phpmyfaq-before-path-traversal-via-category-image-deletion

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

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