CVE-2026-53595CWE-178CWE-287CWE-640

FreeScout vulnerable to anonymous account takeover via /user-setup empty invite_hash on MySQL

Critical · published July 20, 2026

CVSS v3.1
9.4
EPSS
2%
Percentile
80.0
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

FreeScout is a free help desk and shared inbox built with PHP's Laravel framework. Prior to version 1.8.224, the public endpoint `POST /user-setup/{hash}/{invite_sent_at}` (`OpenController@userSetupSave`) selects the target account solely by its `invite_hash` column, then overwrites that account's email and password and logs in as it. No authentication, cookie, or prior session is required. After a user activates, FreeScout sets `invite_hash` to the empty string. On MySQL and MariaDB, `VARCHAR` equality ignores trailing spaces, so a single URL-encoded space (`%20`) matches the stored empty string and selects the lowest-id activated user. The expiry guard decrypts `invite_sent_at` with the target's password hash, but `Helper::decrypt` returns its raw input unchanged when decryption fails. A plaintext numeric value such as `9999999999` therefore passes the time-to-live check without any secret. The result is that an anonymous attacker sets the email and password of the lowest-id activated FreeScout account (a support agent, or an administrator if one was added by invitation) and authenticates as that account. Version 1.8.224 contains a fix.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS v3.1
9.4 · CRITICAL
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.01945 · 80.0th percentile
Weaknesses
CWE-178 · Improper Handling of Case Sensitivity; CWE-287 · Improper Authentication; CWE-640 · Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password
Published
2026-07-20T20:14Z
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 20 JUL 20:14Z
    FreeScout vulnerable to anonymous account takeover via /user-setup empty invite_hash on MySQL
    cvelistv5