GHSA-7w4p-72j7-v7c2
HIGHGHSA-7w4p-72j7-v7c2 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.8) Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in phpmailer/phpmailer. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-7w4p-72j7-v7c2 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Phar object injection in PHPMailer
Real-World Exposure
phpmailer/phpmailer🐘phpmailer/phpmailerReal-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
PHPMailer versions prior to 6.0.6 and 5.2.27 are vulnerable to an object injection attack by passing phar:// paths into addAttachment() and other functions that may receive unfiltered local paths, possibly leading to RCE. See this article for more info on this type of vulnerability. Mitigated by blocking the use of paths containing URL-protocol style prefixes such as phar://. Reported by Sehun Oh of cyberone.kr.
Impact
Object injection, possible remote code execution
Patches
Fixed in 6.0.6 and 5.2.27
Workarounds
Validate and sanitise user input before using.
References
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-19296
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Open a private issue in the PHPMailer project
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | phpmailer/phpmailer | ≥ 5.0.0&&< 5.2.27 | 5.2.27 |
| 🐘Packagist | phpmailer/phpmailer | ≥ 6.0.0&&< 6.0.6 | 6.0.6 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for phpmailer/phpmailer. 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 phpmailer/phpmailer to 5.2.27 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-7w4p-72j7-v7c2 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-7w4p-72j7-v7c2 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-7w4p-72j7-v7c2. 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-7w4p-72j7-v7c2 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-7w4p-72j7-v7c2 across Packagist dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.