CVE-2026-29199 — phpbb/phpbb
HIGHCVE-2026-29199 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.1) CWE-640 vulnerability in phpbb/phpbb. A fix is available for phpbb/phpbb — see the affected versions and patch details below.
phpBB has Password Reset Link Poisoning via Host Header injection
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- 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-2026-29199.
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-2026-29199 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
phpbb/phpbb🐘phpbb/phpbbReal-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
phpBB before 3.3.16 is vulnerable to Host Header Injection that can lead to password rest link poisoning. When force_server_vars is disabled, the servers hostname may be extracted from the HTTP Host header which is used to generate the password reset link URL. An attacker who can manipulate the Host header (e.g. through misconfigured host setup or missing header validation by the webserver) can cause password reset emails to contain a link pointing to an attacker-controlled domain, potentially leading to account takeover.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | phpbb/phpbb | ≥ 3.0.0&&< 3.3.16 | 3.3.16composer require phpbb/phpbb:^3.3.16 |
| 🐘Packagist | phpbb/phpbb | ≥ 4.0.0-a1&&< 4.0.0-a2 | 4.0.0-a2composer require phpbb/phpbb:^4.0.0-a2 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for phpbb/phpbb, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update phpbb/phpbb to 3.3.16 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-29199 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-2026-29199 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2026-29199. 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-2026-29199 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2026-29199 across Packagist dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.