CVE-2026-34973 phpMyFAQ has a LIKE Wildcard Injection in Search.php — Unescaped % and _ Metacharacters Enable Broad Content Disclosure

What is CVE-2026-34973?

CVE-2026-34973 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Phpmyfaq Phpmyfaq, published on 2 Apr 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

phpMyFAQ is an open source FAQ web application. Prior to version 4.1.1, the searchCustomPages() method in phpmyfaq/src/phpMyFAQ/Search.php uses real_escape_string() (via escape()) to sanitize the search term before embedding it in LIKE clauses. However, real_escape_string() does not escape SQL LIKE metacharacters % (match any sequence) and _ (match any single character). An unauthenticated attacker can inject these wildcards into search queries, causing them to match unintended records — including content that was not meant to be surfaced — resulting in information disclosure. This issue has been patched in version 4.1.1.

Weakness: CWE-943

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-34973?

2 open source packages ship an affected version, including thorsten/phpmyfaq. It affects 1 product.

Products include Phpmyfaq Phpmyfaq.

How do I fix CVE-2026-34973?

Upgrade thorsten/phpmyfaq to 4.1.1 or later.

Is CVE-2026-34973 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-34973 exists.

Other vulnerabilities in Phpmyfaq Phpmyfaq

• CVE-2023-0310 Cross-site Scripting (XSS) - Stored in thorsten/phpmyfaq Critical 9.8
• CVE-2022-4407 Cross-site Scripting (XSS) - Reflected in thorsten/phpmyfaq Critical 9.8
• CVE-2017-11187 Security feature bypass in n/a Critical 9.8
• CVE-2026-76213 phpMyFAQ before 4.1.7 2FA Brute-Force via Session-Scoped Throttle Critical 9.1
• CVE-2026-76214 phpMyFAQ before 4.1.7 WebAuthn Replay Attack via Challenge Critical 9.1

All Phpmyfaq Phpmyfaq vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as GHSA-gcp9-5jc8-976x.