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Public proof of conceptFix available

CVE-2026-28289

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

  • Published2026-03-03
  • Fixed in1.8.207
  • WeaknessCWE-434

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

FreeScout is a free help desk and shared inbox built with PHP's Laravel framework. A patch bypass vulnerability for CVE-2026-27636 in FreeScout 1.8.206 and earlier allows any authenticated user with file upload permissions to achieve Remote Code Execution (RCE) on the server by uploading a malicious .htaccess file using a zero-width space character prefix to bypass the security check. The vulnerability exists in the sanitizeUploadedFileName() function in app/Http/Helper.php. The function contains a Time-of-Check to Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) flaw where the dot-prefix check occurs before sanitization removes invisible characters. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.8.207.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2026-03-0323:15CVE publishedNVD
  2. 2026-10-2523:12EPSS crossed 10 %FIRST EPSS

Versions per branch

NVD
Freescout
BranchAffectedFixed in
1.8< 1.8.2071.8.207

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Products declared by the CNA1 product

As GitHub_M, the CNA that assigned this CVE, declared them in the CVE record; versions as written.

  • freescout-help-desk freescout
    Affected
    • = < 1.8.207no fix stated

Source: the CNA record (CVE Program), © The MITRE Corporation,CVE Terms of UseCVE recordupdated 2026-03-03

Fix

  1. Update Freescout to 1.8.207

Advisories and patches

Detection

read 2026-11-01 01:02 UTC
Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof of concept
Metasploit modules
1 moduleexploit/multi/http/freescout_htaccess_rcerank: excellentModule metadata: Metasploit Framework, © Rapid7, Inc., BSD-3-Clause.
Metasploit Framework

Sources

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published
2026-03-03
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Analyzed

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-28289?

FreeScout is a free help desk and shared inbox built with PHP's Laravel framework. A patch bypass vulnerability for CVE-2026-27636 in FreeScout 1.8.206 and earlier allows any authenticated user with file upload permissions to achieve Remote Code Execution (RCE) on the server by uploading a malicious .htaccess file using a zero-width space character prefix to bypass the security check. The vulnerability exists in the sanitizeUploadedFileName() function in app/Http/Helper.php. The function contains a Time-of-Check to Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) flaw where the dot-prefix check occurs before sanitization removes invisible characters. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.8.207.

Is CVE-2026-28289 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2026-28289 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 35.1% on 2026-11-07, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-28289?

CVE-2026-28289 has a CVSS v3 base score of 8.1 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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Sources for this record