CVE-2026-53595: FreeScout vulnerable to anonymous account takeover via /user-setup empty invite_hash on MySQL
freescout-help-desk · freescout
Affected: freescout-help-desk · Exploitation: check available, not yet exploited
Not in CyberSIXT coverage yet: no article names this CVE. This page shows the public record.
Higher than 80% of scored CVEs
DescriptionCVE.org
FreeScout is a free help desk and shared inbox built with PHP's Laravel framework. Prior to version 1.8.224, the public endpoint `POST /user-setup/{hash}/{invite_sent_at}` (`OpenController@userSetupSave`) selects the target account solely by its `invite_hash` column, then overwrites that account's email and password and logs in as it. No authentication, cookie, or prior session is required. After a user activates, FreeScout sets `invite_hash` to the empty string. On MySQL and MariaDB, `VARCHAR` equality ignores trailing spaces, so a single URL-encoded space (`%20`) matches the stored empty string and selects the lowest-id activated user. The expiry guard decrypts `invite_sent_at` with the target's password hash, but `Helper::decrypt` returns its raw input unchanged when decryption fails. A plaintext numeric value such as `9999999999` therefore passes the time-to-live check without any secret. The result is that an anonymous attacker sets the email and password of the lowest-id activated FreeScout account (a support agent, or an administrator if one was added by invitation) and authenticates as that account. Version 1.8.224 contains a fix.
Affected products1
From the CVE record. A product or version that is not listed is unknown, not unaffected.
- freescout-help-desk · freescout< 1.8.224
On the Atlas
Every published CVE is on the CyberSIXT Atlas, grouped by weakness, vendor and month.
- Exploitation
- Check available, not yet exploited. A public nuclei template can confirm it on a system you are authorised to test.
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Public check
- FreeScout < 1.8.224 - Invite Hash Authorization Bypass · nuclei template in projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates
- Vendor
- freescout-help-desk
- Published
- July 2026
CoverageNo articles yet
No CyberSIXT article names CVE-2026-53595 yet, so there is no coverage timeline, action brief or change log for it. Everything on this page comes from the public CVE record, CISA KEV, EPSS and the nuclei template index. Search the archive or see the CVEs in the news.