CVE-2023-1879Public exploitNetwork attack vector

Stored XSS via unencoded category fields

Published Apr 5, 2023 · Updated Feb 10, 2025

Stored XSS in phpMyFAQ before 3.1.12 allows remote authenticated users to execute JavaScript through category updates. The admin category handler accepts name and description values without safe HTML encoding, and category.edit.php returns stored values into HTML without entity conversion. Category-management access is required, and viewing a poisoned category page runs the payload in the viewer's browser context.

CVSS severity5.4
Medium
EPSS probability0.47%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Stored XSS in phpMyFAQ before 3.1.12 allows remote authenticated users to execute JavaScript through category updates. The admin category handler accepts name and description values without safe HTML encoding, and category.edit.php returns stored values into HTML without entity conversion. Category-management access is required, and viewing a poisoned category page runs the payload in the viewer's browser context.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-1879
Published
Apr 5, 2023
Updated
Feb 10, 2025
Vendor
Thorsten Rinne
Product
phpMyFAQ
Classifications
CWE-79, T1059.007
Attack vector
network
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Apr 5, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Feb 10, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=unspecified <3.1.12

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Thorsten Rinne · phpMyFAQversion=unspecified <3.1.12

Published CVSS scores

4.7huntr.devCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
5.4NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-79Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
T1059.007Command and Scripting Interpreter: JavaScript/JScript

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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