CVE-2026-40498
criticalFreeScout is a free self-hosted help desk and shared mailbox.
Vendor / product: Freescout — freescout
FreeScout is a free self-hosted help desk and shared mailbox. Prior to version 1.8.213, an unauthenticated attacker can access diagnostic and system tools that should be restricted to administrators. The /system/cron endpoint relies on a static MD5 hash derived from the APP_KEY, which is exposed in the response and logs. Accessing these endpoints reveals sensitive server information (Full Path Disclosure), process IDs, and allows for Resource Exhaustion (DoS) by triggering heavy background tasks repeatedly without any rate limiting. The cron hash is generated using md5(APP_KEY . 'web_cron_hash'). Since this hash is often transmitted via GET requests, it is susceptible to exposure in server logs, browser history, and proxy logs. Furthermore, the lack of rate limiting on these endpoints allows for automated resource exhaustion (DoS) and brute-force attempts. Version 1.8.213 fixes the issue.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Affected products
Weakness classification (CWE)
Source: NVD / CISA. “NVD-CWE-Other” and “NVD-CWE-noinfo” mean NVD could not assign a specific weakness.
Mitigation & advisories
References
- https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/commit/b1d6c2c601a6ec3626ab13e679607b5084... security-advisories@github.com
- https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/releases/tag/1.8.213 security-advisories@github.com
- https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/security/advisories/GHSA-5jw5-q9j7-4rxc security-advisories@github.com
- https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/security/advisories/GHSA-5jw5-q9j7-4rxc 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0