Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
FreeScout versions before 1.8.220 can mistake a forged email as a real helpdesk agent reply. If an attacker can spoof an agent’s sender address, FreeScout may forward the attacker’s message to customers through the organization’s legitimate mail server, creating trust, fraud, and reputational risk.
Executive priority
Prioritize patching if FreeScout is customer-facing or handles sensitive support communications. The main business risk is trusted-channel abuse: customers may receive fraudulent messages from your legitimate helpdesk infrastructure.
Technical view
The vulnerable FetchEmails flow has a notification-reply path that parses thread_id and user_id from Message-ID-related headers without HMAC verification. This can let spoofed inbound mail be attributed to an agent and handled as an authenticated reply. The issue is fixed in FreeScout 1.8.220.
Likely exposure
Organizations running FreeScout below 1.8.220 with inbound email processing enabled are the relevant exposure group. Risk is higher where attackers can spoof agent From addresses or where mail authentication controls are weak.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or confirmed active exploitation. The attack requires spoofing an agent sender address and abusing the notification reply identification path; the advisory rates attack complexity high.
Researcher notes
Focus review on FetchEmails notification-reply handling and Message-ID-derived notify identifiers. Evidence supports missing HMAC verification on one reply-identification path. Do not assume broader FreeScout authentication compromise beyond the documented email-processing behavior.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade FreeScout to version 1.8.220 or later.
- Review the GitHub advisory and fixed commit for vendor-confirmed remediation details.
- Strengthen inbound email authentication controls against agent-address spoofing.
- Monitor vendor guidance for any follow-up fixes or operational recommendations.
- Review customer-facing outbound mail for suspicious agent-attributed replies.
Validation and detection
- Inventory all FreeScout deployments and confirm their running version.
- Confirm inbound email processing is disabled or patched on versions below 1.8.220.
- Review helpdesk and SMTP logs for agent replies not sent by the named agent.
- Check whether mail controls reject spoofed agent From addresses.
- Validate the fixed version is deployed in production and backup environments.
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-290: 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-345: 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 lookupCVE-2026-47123 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
- 7.5 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N
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:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N2.24.7GitHub_MVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.5HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N
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/freescout-help-desk/freescout/security/advisories/GHSA-6r38-6mcf-2ww3CVE reference, GitHub_M · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/commit/d902f19038213c6a376947d269b00440908e88a0CVE reference, GitHub_M · x_refsource_MISC
- https://vincent.vulcoord.net/score/?state=Not+Scored&year=2026&year=2025&assigned_to=a165dae3-480e-4f7d-bbb8-9b1d78115b69&cve=CVE-2026-47123&analyze=1CVE reference, CISA-ADP · exploit
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.
Authentication Bypass by Spoofing
Authentication Bypass by Spoofing represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.
Insufficient Verification of Data Authenticity
Insufficient Verification of Data Authenticity represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.