CVE-2026-61696 Forem: Stored XSS in Admin Abuse Report Rendering
Unauthenticated attackers can inject malicious JavaScript into abuse reports, leading to arbitrary code execution and potential account takeover when administrators view the reports.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-61696?
CVE-2026-61696 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in forem, published on 18 Aug 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Official description
Forem is open source software for building communities. In versions before commit 92eacd16a82cf9007ba8e16a2258b42e3b53ca9c, a malicious value submitted through feedback_message[message] is stored without sanitization and rendered in app/views/admin/feedback_messages/_feedback_message.html.erb through raw(feedback_message.message) when offender_id is present. Viewing the abuse report executes arbitrary JavaScript in an administrator's browser and may expose sensitive in-page data, abuse CSRF tokens, or perform administrative actions in the victim's session. The public FeedbackMessagesController accepts the report without authorization and previously permitted a submitted offender_id, making the vulnerable rendering path reachable by an unauthenticated attacker. This issue is fixed in commit 92eacd16a82cf9007ba8e16a2258b42e3b53ca9c
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-61696?
How do I fix CVE-2026-61696?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-61696 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Escape output for the context it lands in and set a strict Content Security Policy. Upgrading the affected component is the real fix. More about Cross-site scripting.
Is CVE-2026-61696 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-61696 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-4463-499m-94mx.