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VulnerabilityPublished

CVE-2026-27637: freescout · Weak Randomness

Affects freescoutSource CVE Database V5

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Mentioned vulnerabilities

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 9.8 Critical : upgrade to 1.8.206 as a priority.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 06:59 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
9.8Critical
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 55% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch
Available – fixed in 1.8.206
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 25 Feb 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponized: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq 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 29 Oct 2026.

What to do

Upgrade freescout and freescout-help-desk/freescout to 1.8.206.

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
freescout-help-deskfreescoutAffected
  • <1.8.206
Fixed in
  • 1.8.206
GitHubfreescout-help-desk/freescoutpkg:github/freescout-help-desk/freescoutOther threatsAffected
  • <1.8.206
Fixed in
  • 1.8.206

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

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2026-27637, organizations should immediately upgrade FreeScout to version 1.8.206 or later, where the vulnerability is patched. If upgrading is not immediately possible, administrators should rotate the Laravel APP_KEY to invalidate any previously generated tokens and prevent attackers from computing valid tokens. It is critical to audit and secure the APP_KEY storage and access controls to prevent leakage, including restricting file permissions and environment variable exposure. Additionally, implement monitoring and alerting for suspicious authentication token usage or unexpected administrative access. Consider enforcing multi-factor authentication (MFA) on administrative accounts to add an additional security layer. Review and harden Laravel application configurations to prevent APP_KEY exposure, such as securing deployment pipelines and environment files. Finally, conduct a thorough security assessment of the FreeScout deployment and related infrastructure to identify and remediate any other potential vulnerabilities or misconfigurations.

Description

FreeScout is a free help desk and shared inbox built with PHP's Laravel framework. Prior to version 1.8.206, FreeScout's `TokenAuth` middleware uses a predictable authentication token computed as `MD5(user_id + created_at + APP_KEY)`. This token is static (never expires/rotates), and if an attacker obtains the `APP_KEY` — a well-documented and common exposure vector in Laravel applications — they can compute a valid token for any user, including the administrator, achieving full account takeover without any password. This vulnerability can be exploited on its own or in combination with CVE-2026-27636. Version 1.8.206 fixes both vulnerabilities.

References

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