{"answers":{"affected":"It affects 1 product.","exploited":"It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-40498 exists.","fix":"No fix has been published for CVE-2026-40498 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.","what":"CVE-2026-40498 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in freescout-help-desk freescout, published on 21 Apr 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim."},"fix_prompt":"Check this codebase for CVE-2026-40498 and fix it if it is affected.\n\nWhat it is: CVE-2026-40498 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in freescout-help-desk freescout, published on 21 Apr 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.\nExploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-40498 exists.\n\nAffected product: freescout-help-desk freescout. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.\n\nTask:\n1. 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.\n2. 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.\n3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.\n4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.\n5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.\n\nReference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-40498/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-40498/index.md)","id":"CVE-2026-40498","markdown":"https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-40498/index.md","name":"CVE-2026-40498","record":{"aliases":["GHSA-5jw5-q9j7-4rxc"],"analysis":{"component_type":"web_application","fix_type":"upgrade","impacts":["data_read","denial_of_service"],"network_reachable":"yes","non_default_config":false,"product_category":"FreeScout help desk","requires_auth":"none","summary":"Unauthenticated attackers can bypass authentication to access system tools, disclose sensitive server information, and cause denial of service via resource exhaustion.","user_interaction":"not_required","vuln_class":"auth_bypass"},"analysis_generated_by":"qwen3.8-flash-next","assigner":"GitHub_M","cpe":[{"product":"freescout","vendor":"freescout"}],"cvss":{"score":8.9,"severity":"high","source":"cna","vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P","version":"4.0"},"cwes":[{"id":"CWE-770","name":"Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling"},{"id":"CWE-284","name":"Improper Access Control"},{"id":"CWE-200","name":"Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor"}],"description":"FreeScout is a free self-hosted help desk and shared mailbox. Prior to version 1.8.213, an unauthenticated attacker can access diagnostic and system tools that should be restricted to administrators. The /system/cron endpoint relies on a static MD5 hash derived from the APP_KEY, which is exposed in the response and logs. Accessing these endpoints reveals sensitive server information (Full Path Disclosure), process IDs, and allows for Resource Exhaustion (DoS) by triggering heavy background tasks repeatedly without any rate limiting. The cron hash is generated using md5(APP_KEY . 'web_cron_hash'). Since this hash is often transmitted via GET requests, it is susceptible to exposure in server logs, browser history, and proxy logs. Furthermore, the lack of rate limiting on these endpoints allows for automated resource exhaustion (DoS) and brute-force attempts. Version 1.8.213 fixes the issue.","ecosystems":[],"exploits":{"exploitdb":0,"first_seen":null,"github_poc":0,"max_poc_stars":null,"metasploit":0,"nuclei":0,"refs":[],"tier":"weaponised"},"has_fix":false,"headline":"FreeScout has Authentication Bypass and Information Disclosure in SystemController via /system/cron","id":"CVE-2026-40498","indexable":true,"kev":null,"kind":"cve","links":{"ecosystem":null,"product":null,"products":[],"type":"auth_bypass","year":"2026"},"n_packages":0,"n_references":3,"next":{"headline":"radare2 \u003c 6.1.4 Command Injection via PDB Parser print_gvars()","id":"CVE-2026-40499"},"packages":[],"prev":{"headline":"FreeScout Vulnerable to CSS Injection via Stored Style Tag in Mailbox Signature (CSRF Token Exfiltration)","id":"CVE-2026-40497"},"products":["freescout"],"published":"2026-04-21","related":[{"cvss_score":10,"headline":"FreeScout 1.8.206 Patch Bypass for CVE-2026-27636 via Zero-Width Space Character Leads to Remote Code Execution","id":"CVE-2026-28289","kev_date_added":null,"published":"2026-03-03"},{"cvss_score":9.8,"headline":"FreeScout's Predictable Authentication Token Enables Account Takeover","id":"CVE-2026-27637","kev_date_added":null,"published":"2026-02-25"},{"cvss_score":9.3,"headline":"FreeScout: Stored XSS via Unescaped Email Template Rendering ({!! $thread-\u003ebody !!})","id":"CVE-2026-32754","kev_date_added":null,"published":"2026-03-19"},{"cvss_score":9.1,"headline":"FreeScout OS Command Injection vulnerability","id":"CVE-2024-29185","kev_date_added":null,"published":"2024-03-22"},{"cvss_score":8.8,"headline":"FreeScout has Predictable Attachment Token that Allows Unauthenticated Private File Download via Brute Force","id":"CVE-2026-40496","kev_date_added":null,"published":"2026-04-21"},{"cvss_score":8.8,"headline":"FreeScout: Missing .htaccess in Restricted File Extensions Allows Remote Code Execution on Apache","id":"CVE-2026-27636","kev_date_added":null,"published":"2026-02-25"}],"sources":[{"class":"attribution","licence":"CVE Terms of Use (MITRE)","name":"CVE List","prefix":"CVE"},{"class":"attribution","licence":"US public information, NVD API terms","name":"NVD"},{"class":"attribution","licence":"CWE Terms of Use","name":"CWE (MITRE)"},{"class":"attribution","licence":"FIRST CVSS licence","name":"CVSS (FIRST)"}],"ssvc":{"automatable":"yes","exploitation":"poc","technical_impact":"total"},"state":"PUBLISHED","updated":"2026-04-21","vendors":["freescout-help-desk"]},"summary":"Unauthenticated attackers can bypass authentication to access system tools, disclose sensitive server information, and cause denial of service via resource exhaustion.","url":"https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-40498/"}