GHSA-q7g6-xfh2-vhpx is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.5) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq — see the affected versions and patch details below.
phpMyFAQ stored Cross-site Scripting at user email
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-q7g6-xfh2-vhpx.
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-q7g6-xfh2-vhpx 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 378,567 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
phpmyfaq/phpmyfaqReal-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 email field in phpMyFAQ's user control panel page is vulnerable to stored XSS attacks due to the inadequacy of PHP's FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL function, which only validates the email format, not its content. This vulnerability enables an attacker to execute arbitrary client-side JavaScript within the context of another user's phpMyFAQ session.
Details
Despite using PHP's FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL function, the email field does not adequately validate the content of the email address. This means that malicious input, such as JavaScript code, can be accepted and stored in the database without being detected. When the stored data is retrieved and displayed on web pages, it is not properly sanitized to remove or neutralize any potentially harmful content, such as JavaScript code which leads to Stored XSS.
PoC
-
Login as any user, go to the user control panel, change email to any valid email and intercept the request.
-
Modify the request’s email parameter to the following payload:
"><svg/onload=confirm('XSS')>"@x.y -
Send the request and see that the XSS is triggered in the user control panel page.
-
Also affects any user who browse to "../admin/?action=user&user_action=listallusers"
Impact
This allows an attacker to execute arbitrary client side JavaScript within the context of another user's phpMyFAQ session.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq | ≥ 3.2.5&&< 3.2.6 | 3.2.6composer require phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq:^3.2.6 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq to 3.2.6 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-q7g6-xfh2-vhpx 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 GHSA-q7g6-xfh2-vhpx can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-q7g6-xfh2-vhpx. 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-q7g6-xfh2-vhpx in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-q7g6-xfh2-vhpx across Packagist dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.