VulnerabilityPublished 30 May 2025

CVE-2025-48478: freescout · Improper Enforcement of Behavioral Workflow

Affects freescoutSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.0 High : upgrade to 1.8.180 soon.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score

7.0High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 40% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 1.8.180

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Attack Requirements: None
Privileges Required: High
User Interaction: None
Vulnerable system confidentiality: High
Vulnerable system integrity: Low
Vulnerable system availability: None
Subsequent system confidentiality: None
Subsequent system integrity: None
Subsequent system availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable system is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed below, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed “remotely exploitable” and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: The attacker must take no measurable action to exploit the vulnerability. The attack requires no target-specific circumvention to exploit the vulnerability. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: None: The successful attack does not depend on the deployment and execution conditions of the vulnerable system. The attacker can expect to be able to reach the vulnerability and execute the exploit under all or most instances of the vulnerability.
Privileges Required: High: The attacker requires privileges that provide significant (e.g., administrative) control over the vulnerable system allowing full access to the vulnerable system’s settings and files.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without interaction from any human user, other than the attacker.
Vulnerable system confidentiality: High: There is a total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all information within the Vulnerable System being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact. For example, an attacker steals the administrator's password, or private encryption keys of a web server.
Vulnerable system integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact to the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Subsequent System or all confidentiality impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Subsequent System or all integrity impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Subsequent System or all availability impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v4.0 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 30 May 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade freescout-help-desk/freescout to 1.8.180.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
GitHubfreescout-help-desk/freescout`pkg:github/freescout-help-desk/freescout`Other threats	Affected <1.8.180	Fixed in 1.8.180

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

European organizations should immediately verify their FreeScout version and upgrade to version 1.8.180 or later to remediate this vulnerability. Beyond patching, organizations should audit user creation workflows and access controls to ensure that only authorized personnel can create or modify user accounts. Implement strict input validation and whitelist allowed fields during user creation to prevent mass assignment. Employ role-based access control (RBAC) to limit privileges of users who can create or manage accounts. Monitor logs for unusual user creation activities or privilege escalations. Conduct regular security assessments of self-hosted applications and integrate vulnerability management processes to promptly apply patches. Additionally, consider network segmentation to isolate help desk systems and reduce the blast radius of potential compromises. Educate administrators on secure configuration and the risks of mass assignment vulnerabilities. Finally, implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) for administrative access to reduce the risk of credential compromise.

Description

FreeScout is a free self-hosted help desk and shared mailbox. Prior to version 1.8.180, insufficient input validation during user creation has resulted in a mass assignment vulnerability, allowing an attacker to manipulate all fields of the object, which are enumerated in the $fillable array (the User object), when creating a new user. This issue has been patched in version 1.8.180.

Impact

For European organizations using FreeScout versions prior to 1.8.180, this vulnerability poses significant risks. Help desk systems often contain sensitive customer data, internal communications, and access to other IT service management tools. Exploitation could allow attackers to create or manipulate user accounts with elevated privileges, leading to unauthorized data access or modification. This could result in data breaches, loss of customer trust, and regulatory non-compliance, especially under GDPR requirements for protecting personal data. Additionally, compromised help desk accounts could be used as a foothold for further attacks within the network, increasing the risk of broader compromise. The high confidentiality and integrity impact means sensitive information could be exposed or altered, potentially disrupting business operations and damaging reputations. Since FreeScout is self-hosted, organizations with less mature patch management processes may be particularly vulnerable. The lack of known exploits in the wild suggests a window of opportunity for defenders to patch before widespread exploitation occurs.

CWE-841Improper Enforcement of Behavioral Workflow (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessOWASP Top 10 A06:2025: Insecure Design (opens in a new tab)
The product supports a session in which more than one behavior must be performed by an actor, but it does not properly ensure that the actor performs the behaviors in the required sequence.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Secure Design Principles (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V11.1.1 (opens in a new tab)
V11.1.5 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 7 Jul 2025, 20:44 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-841

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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