CVE-2023-1762 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.2) Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in thorsten/phpmyfaq. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for thorsten/phpmyfaq — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Improper Privilege Management in thorsten/phpmyfaq
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2023-1762.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
thorsten/phpmyfaqReal-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
thorsten/phpmyfaq prior to 3.1.12 is vulnerable to privilege escalation from improper privilege management. Any user with the ability to add a new user can create a user with super admin rights. This has been fixed in 3.1.12.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | thorsten/phpmyfaq | all versions | 3.1.12composer require thorsten/phpmyfaq:^3.1.12 |
Affected Products
phpmyfaqphpmyfaqResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for thorsten/phpmyfaq, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update thorsten/phpmyfaq to 3.1.12 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-1762 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Close the privilege gap rather than the entry point: audit which accounts, roles and service identities can reach the affected operation, drop the component to the least privilege it actually needs, and review file and directory permissions created by earlier installs — a default left in place is what makes this reachable.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-1762 in your dependencies?
Find it across Packagist, including transitive dependencies.