# CVE-2025-48390: FreeScout Vulnerable to Remote Code Execution (RCE)

> An administrator can achieve remote code execution in FreeScout by injecting commands via the php_path parameter during translation creation.

- **Severity:** High 8.6 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 29 May 2025
- **Updated:** 30 May 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-5324-cw55-gwj5

## What is CVE-2025-48390?

CVE-2025-48390 is a high-severity code injection vulnerability in freescout-help-desk freescout, published on 29 May 2025. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

FreeScout is a free self-hosted help desk and shared mailbox. Prior to version 1.8.178, FreeScout is vulnerable to code injection due to insufficient validation of user input in the php_path parameter. The backticks characters are not removed, as well as tabulation is not removed. When checking user input, the file_exists function is also called to check for the presence of such a file (folder) in the file system. A user with the administrator role can create a translation for the language, which will create a folder in the file system. Further in tools.php, the user can specify the path to this folder as php_path, which will lead to the execution of code in backticks. This issue has been patched in version 1.8.178.

Weakness: CWE-94 (Improper Control of Generation of Code)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-48390?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Freescout Freescout.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-48390?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-48390 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2025-48390 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-48390 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in freescout-help-desk freescout

- [CVE-2026-28289](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-28289/): FreeScout 1.8.206 Patch Bypass for CVE-2026-27636 via Zero-Width Space Character Leads to Remote Code Execution (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2026-27637](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-27637/): FreeScout's Predictable Authentication Token Enables Account Takeover (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-32754](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-32754/): FreeScout: Stored XSS via Unescaped Email Template Rendering ({!! $thread->body !!}) (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2024-29185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-29185/): FreeScout OS Command Injection vulnerability (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2026-40498](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-40498/): FreeScout has Authentication Bypass and Information Disclosure in SystemController via /system/cron (high 8.9)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-48390 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-48390 is a high-severity code injection vulnerability in freescout-help-desk freescout, published on 29 May 2025. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-48390 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: freescout-help-desk freescout. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-48390/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-48390/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-48390
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-48390
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-48390

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-48390/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.