How severe is GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc?

GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc has a CVSS score of 5.4/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc?

GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc affects the following packages: thorsten/phpmyfaq (Packagist). Ecosystems affected: Packagist.

How do I fix GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc?

Update thorsten/phpmyfaq to 4.0.16 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc in my Packagist dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for thorsten/phpmyfaq. 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.

How do I mitigate GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

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 does O3 Security protect against GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc?

O3 pinpoints whether GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Is GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc?

GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.2%, placing it in the 14th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc?

GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc is classified as Cross-site Scripting (XSS) (CWE-79). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

When was GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc published, and has it been updated?

GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc was published on December 29, 2025 and was last updated on February 3, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐘 Packagist

GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc

MEDIUM

phpMyFAQ has Stored XSS in user list via admin-managed display_name

Also known asCVE-2025-68951

Published

Dec 29, 2025

Updated

Feb 3, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.2%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk14th percentile+0.21%

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.

Blast Radius

1 pkg affected

🐘thorsten/phpmyfaq

Real-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

A stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability allows an attacker to execute arbitrary JavaScript in an administrator’s browser by registering a user whose display name contains HTML entities (e.g., <img ...>). When an administrator views the admin user list, the payload is decoded server-side and rendered without escaping, resulting in script execution in the admin context.

Details

Root cause is the following chain:

User-controlled input stored: attacker-provided display_name (real name) is stored in DB (often as HTML entities, e.g., <img ...>).
Decode on read: phpmyfaq/src/phpMyFAQ/User/UserData.php decodes display_name using html_entity_decode(...) (“for backward compatibility”).
Unsafe sink: admin user list renders the decoded value unescaped using Twig |raw:
- phpmyfaq/assets/templates/admin/user/users.twig (users table uses {{ user.display_name|raw }})

As a result, an entity-encoded payload becomes active HTML/JS when rendered in the admin user list.

Note: This report is about the display_name field + entity-decoding path. It is distinct from previously published issues focused on the email field.

PoC (minimal reproduction)

Preconditions / configuration

Registration enabled (security.enableRegistration = true).
Attacker does not need admin privileges.
Admin must view the admin user list page.

Steps

As an unauthenticated user, open the registration page and create a new account.
Set the display name / real name field to the following entity-encoded payload:
- <img src=x onerror=alert(1)>
Complete registration.
As an administrator, open the admin user list (example):
- http://127.0.0.1:8080/admin/user/list
Observe JavaScript execution in the admin’s browser (e.g., alert(1) triggers) and the payload is rendered as an actual <img> element.

Impact

Stored XSS in the admin context can enable:

admin session compromise (depending on cookie flags),
CSRF token exfiltration and privileged admin actions,
UI redress/phishing within the admin panel.

Evidence (what I observed)

Stored DB value (entities): <img src=x onerror=alert(1)>
Rendered HTML in admin user list: <img src="x" onerror="alert(1)">

Affected versions

Confirmed by code inspection

4.0.14
4.0.15
- Both contain html_entity_decode for display_name in UserData.php and {{ user.display_name|raw }} in users.twig.

Confirmed by live reproduction

4.1.0-RC (tested on current source checkout)

Environment (tested)

Host OS: macOS 15.6.1 (24G90)
Web container OS: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
PHP: 8.4.5RC1
DB: MariaDB 11.6.2
phpMyFAQ source commit (tested): bca1c4192c2ad61a3595b4289d9551a51e0e9848

Contact / Credit

Contact: [email protected]

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐘Packagist	`thorsten/phpmyfaq`	≥ 4.0.14&&< 4.0.16	4.0.16

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for thorsten/phpmyfaq. 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 thorsten/phpmyfaq to 4.0.16 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc 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-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc 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-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Summary A stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability allows an attacker to execute arbitrary JavaScript in an administrator’s browser by registering a user whose **display name** contains HTML entities (e.g., `<img ...>`). When an administrator views the admin user list, the payload is decoded server-side and rendered without escaping, resulting in script execution in the admin context. ### Details Root cause is the following chain: - **User-controlled input stored**: attacker-provided `display_name` (real name) is stored in DB (often as HTML entities, e.g., `<img ...>`).

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc in your dependencies?

O3 detects GHSA-jv8r-hv7q-p6vc across Packagist dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

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