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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2026-28289: freescout · Unrestricted File Upload

Affects freescoutSource CVE Database V5

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Mentioned vulnerabilities

Public exploit available (Metasploit) · 35% EPSS · CVSS 10.0 Critical : upgrade to 1.8.207 as a priority.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 11:52 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
10.0Critical
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
35.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 98% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch
Available – fixed in 1.8.207
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 3 Mar 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponized: evidence found.

    1 Metasploit module

  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 30 Oct 2026.

What to do

Upgrade freescout and freescout-help-desk/freescout to 1.8.207.

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
freescout-help-deskfreescoutAffected
  • <1.8.207
Fixed in
  • 1.8.207
GitHubfreescout-help-desk/freescoutpkg:github/freescout-help-desk/freescoutOther threatsAffected
  • <1.8.207
Fixed in
  • 1.8.207

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

AI-suggested

Organizations should immediately upgrade FreeScout to version 1.8.207 or later, where this vulnerability is patched. As a temporary mitigation, administrators can restrict file upload permissions to only fully trusted users and implement strict monitoring of uploaded files for suspicious filenames, especially those containing invisible Unicode characters or .htaccess files. Web server configurations can be hardened to disallow .htaccess overrides or restrict execution permissions in upload directories. Employing Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block suspicious file uploads can provide additional protection. Regularly audit user permissions and logs for unusual upload activity. Educate users about the risks of uploading files and enforce strong authentication and access controls. Finally, conduct penetration testing and vulnerability scanning focused on file upload functionalities to detect similar flaws proactively.

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.

References

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