# CVE-2025-48478: FreeScout Has Business Logic Errors

> Attackers can exploit mass assignment during user creation to manipulate user fields, potentially escalating privileges or modifying data in FreeScout.

- **Severity:** High 7.0 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:L/VA:N/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:** 30 May 2025
- **Updated:** 30 May 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-fqjj-79j2-8qx6

## What is CVE-2025-48478?

CVE-2025-48478 is a high-severity vulnerability in freescout-help-desk freescout, published on 30 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 1.8.180, insufficient input validation during user creation has resulted in a mass assignment vulnerability, allowing an attacker to manipulate all fields of the object, which are enumerated in the $fillable array (the User object), when creating a new user. This issue has been patched in version 1.8.180.

Weakness: CWE-841 (Improper Enforcement of Behavioral Workflow)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-48478?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Freescout Freescout.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-48478?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-48478 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2025-48478 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-48478 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-2025-48478 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-48478 is a high-severity vulnerability in freescout-help-desk freescout, published on 30 May 2025. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-48478 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-2025-48478/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-48478/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-48478
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-48478
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-48478

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-48478/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.