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VulnerabilityPublished

CVE-2026-40496: freescout · Weak Randomness

Affects freescoutSource CVE Database V5

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Public exploit available · CVSS 8.8 High : upgrade to 1.8.213 as a priority.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 11:52 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score
8.8High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 34% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch
Available – fixed in 1.8.213
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 21 Apr 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponized: evidence found.

    CVSS exploit maturity: proof of concept public

  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), CVSS vector, the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 30 Oct 2026.

What to do

Upgrade freescout and freescout-help-desk/freescout to 1.8.213.

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
freescout-help-deskfreescoutAffected
  • <1.8.213
Fixed in
  • 1.8.213
GitHubfreescout-help-desk/freescoutpkg:github/freescout-help-desk/freescoutOther threatsAffected
  • <1.8.213
Fixed in
  • 1.8.213

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

AI-suggested

Upgrade FreeScout to version 1.8.213 or later, where the token generation method has been fixed to prevent token forgery. Patch status is not explicitly stated in a vendor advisory, but the version update is the official fix. Until upgraded, restrict access to the FreeScout instance and monitor for suspicious activity related to attachment downloads.

Description

FreeScout versions prior to 1.8.213 use a weak and predictable method to generate attachment download tokens, allowing unauthenticated attackers to forge valid tokens and download private attachments. The tokens are generated using md5 hashing of a concatenation of APP_KEY, a sequential attachment_id, and a size value that can be brute-forced. This vulnerability is fixed in version 1.8.213.

References

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