CVE-2026-34751 — payload
CRITICALCVE-2026-34751 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.1) CWE-472 vulnerability in payload. A fix is available for payload — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Payload has Unvalidated Input in Password Recovery Endpoints
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- 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-2026-34751.
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
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
payloadnpm@payloadcms/graphqlnpmDescription
Impact
A vulnerability in the password recovery flow could allow an unauthenticated attacker to perform actions on behalf of a user who initiates a password reset.
Users are affected if:
- They are using Payload version < v3.79.1 with any auth-enabled collection using the built-in
forgot-passwordfunctionality.
Patches
Input validation and URL construction in the password recovery flow have been hardened.
Users should upgrade to v3.79.1 or later.
Workarounds
There are no complete workarounds. Upgrading to v3.79.1 is recommended.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | payload | all versions | 3.79.1npm install payload@3.79.1 |
| 📦npm | @payloadcms/graphql | all versions | 3.79.1npm install @payloadcms/graphql@3.79.1 |
Affected Products
payloadpayloadcmsDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for payload, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update payload to 3.79.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-34751 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-34751 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.