Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
OpenEMR through 8.2.0 can allow an authenticated administrator to plant malicious PHP in the document-category data. OpenEMR may later execute it when loading affected pages, giving the attacker operating-system command execution as the web server user. Because triggering can occur on unauthenticated or low-privilege pages after planting, compromise may persist beyond the original administrator session.
Executive priority
Treat this as an urgent remediation and investigation item for internet-accessible or sensitive OpenEMR systems. Prioritize version confirmation, vendor guidance, administrator-account review, and database integrity checks. The high privilege prerequisite reduces opportunistic risk, but successful exploitation could compromise clinical data confidentiality, integrity, availability, and connected systems.
Technical view
CVE-2026-39932 is a CWE-95 eval injection in library/classes/Tree.class.php. An administrator with arbitrary SQL capability can change the categories.id column to VARCHAR and store PHP content. CategoryTree passes that content to unsanitized eval(), potentially executing it whenever relevant pages instantiate the class. CVSS 4.0 is 9.4, with high privileges required for initial injection.
Likely exposure
OpenEMR deployments running versions through 8.2.0 should be treated as potentially affected. Initial exploitation requires authenticated administrative privileges and arbitrary SQL execution, limiting direct exposure. Impact remains severe because planted content may execute from broadly accessible pages. The supplied sources do not establish whether particular configurations, modules, or later versions are unaffected.
Exploitation context
The bundle includes a public technical disclosure and labels one reference as containing exploit information. However, CVE-2026-39932 is not listed as KEV in the supplied data, and no cited evidence establishes active exploitation in the wild. Public technical detail may increase future exploitation risk, especially where administrator credentials are compromised.
Researcher notes
The reported chain has two distinct stages: privileged database manipulation and later eval-based execution. Validation should distinguish prerequisites from trigger paths. The supplied material does not name a fixed version, patch commit, observed indicators, or confirmed exploitation campaign. Avoid concluding that exposure alone proves compromise; correlate schema changes, category records, logs, and web server behavior.
Mitigation direction
- Check current OpenEMR vendor guidance and apply the vendor-supported security update when identified.
- Restrict administrator access to trusted personnel and enforce strong authentication.
- Limit database privileges available through OpenEMR wherever operationally supported.
- Temporarily restrict public access to affected deployments if compromise is suspected.
- Initiate incident response if suspicious category data or web server activity is found.
Validation and detection
- Inventory OpenEMR deployments and confirm their exact installed versions.
- Inspect the categories table schema for unexpected changes to the id column type.
- Review category records for anomalous PHP-like content or unexplained modifications.
- Review administrator, database, application, and web server logs for suspicious activity.
- After remediation, confirm CategoryTree no longer evaluates attacker-controlled category data using safe testing.
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-95: Code execution behavior lookup
Code execution and unsafe deserialization weaknesses often justify reviewing execution behavior and process telemetry. 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 lookupExecution behavior lookup
The CVE wording references code or command execution, so execution technique review may help defensive triage. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupDatabase behavior lookup
The CVE wording references database injection or access, so collection and exfiltration review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2026-39932 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
- Critical
- CVSS
- 9.4 (4.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA: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:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H——VulnCheckCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H2.36VulnCheckVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 4.0 score
9.4CriticalVector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H
Base CVSS 3.1 score
9.1CriticalVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/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
- Researcher DisclosureCVE reference, VulnCheck · technical-description, exploit
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openemr-remote-code-execution-via-categorytree-eval-injectionCVE 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.