CVE-2024-29179 — phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq
MEDIUMCVE-2024-29179 is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.3) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) 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.
phpMyFAQ Stored Cross-site Scripting at File Attachments
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-2024-29179.
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-2024-29179 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 378,567 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
An attacker with admin privileges can upload an attachment containing JS code without extension and the application will render it as HTML which allows for XSS attacks.
Details
When attachments are uploaded without an extension, the application renders it as HTML by default. Therefore allowing attackers to upload .html files containing javascript code to perform XSS attacks. The direct file path to the uploaded attachment is also easily obtainable as it is made up of substrings of the file's MD5 hashes.
PoC
-
Admin users can upload attachments containing XSS payloads in files without extensions to bypass the .html extension check.
-
Since the path of the uploaded file is built entirely on the file’s MD5 hash and the attachment directory, it is possible for an attacker to know the direct path of the uploaded file.
E.g file MD5 hash: 38fff51cb7248a06d6142c6bdf846831
URL will be: http://127.0.0.1/phpmyfaq/attachments/38fff/51cb7/248a0/6d6142c6bdf846831
- /attachments
- /38fff (first 5 chars of MD5 hash)
- /51cb7 (next 5 chars of MD5 hash)
- /248a0 (next 5 chars of MD5 hash)
- /6d6142c6bdf846831 (remaining chars of MD5 hash)
3. Even though the attachment was uploaded without a file extension, it is still rendered as .html, hence triggering the XSS payload.
Impact
This allows an attacker to execute arbitrary client side JavaScript within the context of another user's phpMyFAQ session.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq | ≥ 3.2.5&&< 3.2.6 | 3.2.6composer require phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq:^3.2.6 |
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 3.2.6 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-29179 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-2024-29179 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2024-29179. 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-2024-29179 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2024-29179 across Packagist dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.