CVE-2024-22202 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.7) CWE-284 vulnerability in phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq — see the affected versions and patch details below.
User Removal Page Allows Spoofing Of User Details
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2024-22202.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2024-22202 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,636 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
phpmyfaq/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
Summary
phpMyFAQ's user removal page allows an attacker to spoof another user's detail, and in turn make a compelling phishing case for removing another user's account.
Details
phpMyFAQ's user removal page allows an attacker to spoof another user's detail, and in turn make a compelling phishing case for removing another user's account. Whilst the front-end of this page doesn't allow changing the form details, an attacker can utilize a proxy to intercept this request and submit other data. Upon submitting this form, an email is sent to the administrator informing them that this user wants to delete their account. An administrator has no way of telling the difference between the actual user wishing to delete their account or the attacker issuing this for an account they do not control.
PoC
We are logged in as hacker and visit /user/request-removal. This brings us to the following page. We are not able to change the username, Your name and Your email address fields on this page.
However, we intercept this request using a proxy tool such as BurpSuite.
We can now edit the request before sending it. We change the fields mentioned above to the details of another user, and send the request.
This results in the following email being sent to the administrator. For them, it looks like the victim wants to delete their account.
Impact
The impact of this vulnerability is that administrators cannot trust the emails sent by the platform. An attacker can easily make a compelling case to perform phishing and get victim accounts deleted.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq | all versions | 3.2.5composer require phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq:^3.2.5 |
Research 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 phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq to 3.2.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-22202 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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2024-22202 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2024-22202. 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-2024-22202 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2024-22202 across Packagist dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.