FreeScout: Conditional stored admin XSS via failed-job details
Affects FreeScout before 1.8.230 when Logs Monitoring is enabled for the users activity log and system alert email delivery fails. Fixed in 1.8.230.
Written by anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5 from the sources below. Verify against them.
- Exploited
- No known exploitation
- Fix
- Fixed in 1.8.230
- Who is exposed
- Specific setups only
Do first: Check whether your setup matches what the bug needs. Logs Monitoring is enabled for the users activity log System alert email delivery fails so the SendAlert job is moved to failed_jobs An administrator opens the failed-job details URL as a top-level page or new tab
- Published
- Last modified
- A 0-100 score for how much a CVE matters across the industry: exploitation, exposure, how widely the software is used, severity and whether a fix exists.What do these mean? →
- 20/100 · provisional
- How many real-world setups can hit the bug, from the vendor's advisory and CISA data. It does not know your setup.What do these mean? →
- Specific setups only
- Whether working attack code is public (Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei or GitHub). Public code makes attacks easier.What do these mean? →
- None on Exploit-DB, Metasploit or GitHub
Summary
FreeScout, a self-hosted help desk and shared mailbox application, has a stored cross-site scripting flaw that a remote attacker can trigger without logging in, by placing HTML in a failed-login email value. When an administrator opens the job details page directly as a top-level page, the attacker's JavaScript can run in that session and perform same-origin administrator actions.
Read the original description
FreeScout is a self-hosted help desk and shared mailbox. Prior to 1.8.230, a pre-authenticated attacker can place HTML in a failed-login email value that is copied through monitored user activity into a queued SendAlert job. If alert delivery fails, the serialized payload is stored in failed_jobs and the administrator job-details endpoint renders it after a blacklist sanitizer that leaves executable event-handler attributes. When an administrator opens /system/ajax-html/job_details/{id} as a top-level page, the raw fragment lacks the normal layout policy and attacker-controlled JavaScript can perform same-origin administrator actions. Logs Monitoring for users, a failed alert email job, queue failure storage, and top-level administrator interaction are all required; the normal modal path is not affected in the tested configuration. This issue is fixed in version 1.8.230.
cve.now Index
- Exploitation?/40Unknown. No CISA SSVC exploitation rating yet
- Exposure12/25Specific setups only, reachable over the network without a login
- Reach?/20Unknown. No tracked technology or package matched
- Severity7.5/10CVSS 7.5
- No patch0/5No signal
What would change the score
- Would score about 70 if added to CISA KEV
- Would score about 65 if CISA's SSVC rates exploitation active
What to do
Check whether your setup matches what the bug needs.
Logs Monitoring is enabled for the users activity log System alert email delivery fails so the SendAlert job is moved to failed_jobs An administrator opens the failed-job details URL as a top-level page or new tabUpgrade to a fixed version: 1.8.230.
Timeline
- CVE published
- First seen by cve.now
Affected versions
- freescout-help-desk freescout
fixed in 1.8.230
Evidence 3
- Advisory
- Repository
- Repository
Corrections
None so far.
Something wrong on this page? Report an error. Every fix is listed here.
Questions about CVE-2026-85742
Is CVE-2026-85742 being exploited?
It is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and CISA's SSVC assessment does not mark exploitation as active. That does not mean it has not been attacked: vendors and researchers can report attacks before CISA lists them. No public exploit code is tracked.Source: cve.now feed data
What does this mean?
The failed-job details page can store a script that runs in the browser of an administrator who opens that page as a top-level page or in a new tab. The script is kept in the stored failed-job data, so it is not a one-off input.Source: github.com
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-85742?
freescout: before 1.8.230.Source: cve.now feed data
Am I affected, and how do I check?
Versions before 1.8.230 are affected when Logs Monitoring is enabled for the users activity log and system alert email delivery fails, which moves the SendAlert job into failed_jobs. To check, look at the FreeScout version in the admin area and the Logs Monitoring setting for the users activity log.Source: github.com
How do I fix CVE-2026-85742?
Upgrade FreeScout to 1.8.230 or later, which is the fixed version.Source: github.com
Why do the sources disagree?
The description says an authenticated administrator must open the affected page, but the attack vector in the scoring data lists no privileges required (PR:N). The sources do not reconcile this, so the required access level is unresolved here.Source: github.com