CVE-2026-40568HIGH 8.5EPSS p14.6%
CVE-2026-40568CVE-2026-40568
Description
FreeScout is a free self-hosted help desk and shared mailbox. Versions prior to 1.8.213 have a stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the mailbox signature feature. The sanitization function `Helper::stripDangerousTags()` (`app/Misc/Helper.php:568`) uses an incomplete blocklist of only four HTML tags (`script`, `form`, `iframe`, `object`) and does not remove event handler attributes. When a mailbox signature is saved via `MailboxesController::updateSave()` (`app/Http/Controllers/MailboxesController.php:267`), HTML elements such as `<img>`, `<svg>`, and `<details>` with event handler attributes like `onerror` and `onload` pass through sanitization unchanged and are stored in the database. The signature is then rendered as raw HTML via the Blade `{!! !!}` tag in `editor_bottom_toolbar.blade.php:6` and re-inserted into the visible DOM by jQuery `.html()` at `main.js:1789-1790`, triggering the injected event handlers. Any authenticated user with the `ACCESS_PERM_SIGNATURE` (`sig`) permission on a mailbox -- a delegatable, non-admin permission -- can inject arbitrary HTML and JavaScript into the mailbox signature. The payload fires automatically, with no victim interaction, whenever any agent or administrator opens any conversation in the affected mailbox. This enables session hijacking (under CSP bypass conditions such as IE11 or module-weakened CSP), phishing overlays that work in all browsers regardless of CSP, and chaining to admin-level actions including email exfiltration via mass assignment and self-propagating worm behavior across all mailboxes. Version 1.8.213 fixes the issue.
Scoring
| CVSS 3.1 | 8.5 (HIGH) |
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N |
| EPSS | 0.24% probability of exploitation · percentile 14.6% · 2026-06-19T12:03:05Z |
| Published | 2026-04-21 |
| Last modified | 2026-04-22 |
Underlying weaknesses· 2
References
- https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/commit/1d83e1cffb0bf8d109625313530b36b0f5910b3f
- https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/releases/tag/1.8.213
- https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/security/advisories/GHSA-w2f5-6wcv-677r
- https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/security/advisories/GHSA-w2f5-6wcv-677r
2
| Type | Target | Confidence | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weakness | Improper Encoding or Escaping of Outputcwe-116 | 0% | live |
| Weakness | Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')cwe-79 | 0% | live |
Related by meaning· 6
Nearest entities by semantic similarity across the cs-graph corpus.