CVE-2018-19296
HIGHCVE-2018-19296 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.8) Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in phpmailer/phpmailer. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2018-19296 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Phar object injection in PHPMailer
Real-World Exposure
phpmailer/phpmailer🐘phpmailer/phpmailerReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
PHPMailer before 5.2.27 and 6.x before 6.0.6 is vulnerable to an object injection attack.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | phpmailer/phpmailer | ≥ 5.0.0&&< 5.2.27 | 5.2.27 |
| 🐘Packagist | phpmailer/phpmailer | ≥ 6.0.0&&< 6.0.6 | 6.0.6 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for phpmailer/phpmailer. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update phpmailer/phpmailer to 5.2.27 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2018-19296 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2018-19296 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2018-19296. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2018-19296 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2018-19296 across Packagist dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.