# CVE-2026-73481: phpList < 3.7.0-RC5 Cross-Site Request Forgery via Bounce Rules

> An attacker can trick an authenticated administrator into deleting arbitrary bounce rules via a crafted GET request due to missing CSRF validation.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 13 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 14 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-328j-qh6x-vvjq

## What is CVE-2026-73481?

CVE-2026-73481 is a medium-severity vulnerability in phplist3, published on 13 Aug 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

phpList before 3.7.0-RC5 fail to enforce CSRF token validation on the bounce rule deletion endpoint (bouncerules.php / bouncerule.php). The deletion is performed via a GET request (?page=bouncerules&del=N), and the central CSRF check (verifyCsrfGetToken) is invoked with enforce=false, so it only validates the token when a 'tk' parameter is present. A remote attacker can trick an authenticated administrator into loading a crafted URL (e.g., embedded in an image tag) to delete arbitrary bounce rules from the phplist_bounceregex table without a valid CSRF token.

Weakness: CWE-352 (Cross-Site Request Forgery)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-73481?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-73481?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-73481 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-73481 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-73481 exists.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-73481 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-73481 is a medium-severity vulnerability in phplist3, published on 13 Aug 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-73481 exists.

Affected product: phplist3. 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-2026-73481/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-73481/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-73481
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-73481
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-73481

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-73481/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.