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VulnerabilityPublished

CVE-2026-28281: instantsoft icms2 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

Affects instantsoft icms2Source CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.1 High : upgrade to 2.18.1 soon.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 06:59 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
7.1High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 2% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch
Available – fixed in 2.18.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 9 Mar 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 icms2 and instantsoft/icms2 to 2.18.1.

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
instantsofticms2Affected
  • <2.18.1
Fixed in
  • 2.18.1
GitHubinstantsoft/icms2pkg:github/instantsoft/icms2Other threatsAffected
  • <2.18.1
Fixed in
  • 2.18.1

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-2026-28281, organizations should immediately upgrade InstantCMS installations to version 2.18.1 or later, where the vulnerability is fixed. If upgrading is not immediately possible, implement additional CSRF protections such as enforcing strict validation of CSRF tokens on all state-changing requests. Employ the use of SameSite cookies set to 'Strict' or 'Lax' to reduce the risk of CSRF attacks via cross-site requests. Validate the Origin and Referer HTTP headers on sensitive endpoints to ensure requests originate from trusted sources. Educate users about the risks of clicking on suspicious links and encourage the use of security-aware browsing practices. Monitor web server logs and application activity for unusual actions such as unexpected privilege changes or mass friend request acceptances. Consider deploying Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with rules designed to detect and block CSRF attack patterns. Regularly audit and review user permissions and scheduled tasks to detect unauthorized modifications. Finally, maintain an up-to-date inventory of CMS versions deployed across the organization to ensure timely patch management.

Description

InstantCMS is a free and open source content management system. Prior to 2.18.1, InstantCMS does not validate CSRF tokens, which allows attackers grant moderator privileges to users, execute scheduled tasks, move posts to trash, and accept friend requests on behalf of the user. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.18.1.

References

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