Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2026-35671 affects phpMyFAQ before 4.1.3. A logged-in, lower-privilege administrator can change another user’s password through an admin API weakness and potentially take over a SuperAdmin account. This is a high business risk where phpMyFAQ admin access is delegated or exposed to multiple staff or contractors.
Executive priority
Prioritize remediation for any production phpMyFAQ instance with multiple administrators or externally reachable admin access. The vulnerability can convert limited admin access into full administrative control, creating risk to knowledge-base content, user data, and service availability.
Technical view
The issue is an insecure direct object reference in the phpMyFAQ admin API user password endpoint. The endpoint allows an authenticated administrator to alter the userId parameter and change any user’s password without sufficient authorization checks. CVSS is 8.8, reflecting network access, low privileges, no user interaction, and high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
Likely exposure
Organizations running phpMyFAQ versions before 4.1.3 are potentially exposed, especially if non-SuperAdmin admin accounts exist. Internet exposure of the admin interface increases operational risk, but the attacker must already have authenticated low-privilege admin access according to the provided sources.
Exploitation context
The public sources describe privilege escalation from low-privilege admin to SuperAdmin by abusing the password overwrite API. The source bundle does not indicate CISA KEV listing or confirmed active exploitation. Treat this as a credible post-authentication escalation risk, not as evidence of widespread exploitation.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to the CVE description, GHSA vendor advisory, and VulnCheck advisory. No exploit code or active exploitation is cited in the provided sources. Key validation focus should be version confirmation, admin role exposure, and whether password-change audit records show unauthorized privileged account changes.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade phpMyFAQ to version 4.1.3 or later.
- Review vendor advisory for any configuration-specific guidance.
- Restrict phpMyFAQ admin access to trusted networks or VPN where feasible.
- Review and minimize low-privilege administrator accounts.
- Rotate credentials for privileged accounts if suspicious admin activity is found.
Validation and detection
- Inventory phpMyFAQ instances and record versions.
- Confirm whether any instance runs before 4.1.3.
- Review admin user roles and recent password-change activity.
- Check access controls around the phpMyFAQ admin interface.
- Monitor vendor and CVE sources for updated guidance.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-266: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCredential and access behavior lookup
The CVE wording references authentication or credential exposure, so valid-account and credential-access review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2026-35671 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 8.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
SSVC decision data
CVSS vector scores
2 official scoresWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H2.85.9VulnCheckCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N——VulnCheckVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 4.0 score
8.7HighVector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Base CVSS 3.1 score
8.8HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- GHSA Advisory GHSA-xvp4-phqj-cjr3CVE reference, VulnCheck · vendor-advisory
- VulnCheck Advisory: phpMyFAQ - Insecure Direct Object Reference in User Password APICVE reference, VulnCheck · third-party-advisory
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Incorrect Privilege Assignment
Incorrect Privilege Assignment represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.