Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This flaw lets an unauthenticated visitor submit specially crafted Hidden field values in Formie that may be evaluated as Twig templates. On affected Craft CMS sites, that can turn a normal public form into a path to serious site compromise. The vendor fixed it in Formie 2.2.20 and 3.1.24.
Executive priority
Treat this as urgent for any public Craft CMS site using Formie. The combination of pre-authentication reachability, critical CVSS score, and possible full site compromise makes patching a near-term priority even without confirmed exploitation.
Technical view
CVE-2026-45697 is a pre-authenticated server-side template injection in verbb Formie Hidden fields configured with Default value set to Custom. Affected versions are before 2.2.20 and 3.0.0-beta.1 through before 3.1.24. CVSS 3.1 is 9.8, with network access, low complexity, no privileges, and no user interaction.
Likely exposure
Internet-facing Craft CMS sites using vulnerable Formie versions are the main concern, especially where public forms accept unauthenticated submissions and use Hidden fields with Custom default values.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not state active exploitation, and the CVE is not marked KEV. Exploitability is still serious because the issue is pre-authenticated, network-reachable, low complexity, and may affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability depending on Twig template and sandbox behavior.
Researcher notes
The source bundle maps this to CWE-1336, CWE-693, and CWE-94. Evidence supports a Twig evaluation flaw during submission handling, but does not provide safe detection signatures, IOCs, exploit prevalence, or detailed environmental constraints beyond template and sandbox behavior.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Formie 2.x deployments to 2.2.20 or later.
- Upgrade Formie 3.x deployments to 3.1.24 or later.
- Prioritize public Craft CMS sites with unauthenticated form submissions.
- Review vendor guidance before relying on temporary workarounds.
- If upgrade is delayed, consider disabling affected public forms temporarily.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Craft CMS sites using the verbb Formie plugin.
- Confirm installed Formie versions against the affected ranges.
- Review forms for Hidden fields using Custom default values.
- Check recent form submissions and logs for suspicious activity; sources provide no IOCs.
- Verify the site runs 2.2.20, 3.1.24, or a later fixed release.
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-1336: 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 lookupCWE-693: 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 lookupCWE-94: 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 lookupCVE-2026-45697 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
- 9.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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
1 official scoreWe 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:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H3.95.9GitHub_MVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
9.8CriticalVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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
- https://github.com/verbb/formie/security/advisories/GHSA-x7m9-mwc2-g6w2CVE reference, GitHub_M · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://github.com/verbb/formie/commit/f690d5623163ce2a95da305238d6367575486ee3CVE reference, GitHub_M · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/verbb/formie/releases/tag/2.2.20CVE reference, GitHub_M · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/verbb/formie/releases/tag/3.1.24CVE reference, GitHub_M · x_refsource_MISC
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.
Improper Neutralization of Special Elements Used in a Template Engine
Improper Neutralization of Special Elements Used in a Template Engine represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.
Protection Mechanism Failure
Protection Mechanism Failure represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.
Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')
Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection') represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.