# CVE-2026-62850: FreeScout: Administrative tools.php endpoint is accessible to low-privileged users, enabling filesystem enumeration and unthrottled brute-force of application secrets

Status: published. Published: 2026-11-06. Updated: 2026-11-11.

FreeScout is a self-hosted help desk and shared mailbox. Prior to 1.8.225, the administrative tools.php maintenance endpoint is reachable without an appropriate authentication or access-control boundary. Response differences for attacker-controlled path values disclose whether arbitrary directories and files exist on the server. The same endpoint validates application-key and database-password candidates without rate limiting, per-session throttling, or a CAPTCHA, allowing unrestricted guessing attempts against application secrets. This issue is fixed in version 1.8.225.

## Remediation

- fix: freescout-help-desk/freescout: GitHub reports patched versions 1.8.225. Check the advisory for the affected release branch. (source: GitHub GHSA-w2p9-3666-vw9j) — https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/security/advisories/GHSA-w2p9-3666-vw9j

## Affected products and versions

- freescout-help-desk / freescout: < 1.8.225 (affected). Source: CNA: GitHub_M
-  / freescout-help-desk/freescout (freescout-help-desk/freescout): <1.8.225 (affected, GitHub advisory range). Source: GitHub GHSA-w2p9-3666-vw9j

## Severity and prioritization

- CVSS 3.1: 5.3 (medium); CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N; source: CNA: GitHub_M

- CVSS 3.1: 5.3 (medium); CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N; source: NVD: security-advisories@github.com

- CISA KEV: No listing in collected sources

- EPSS: 0.27% as of 2026-11-10; percentile 19.73%

- SSVC: exploitation poc; automatable yes; technical impact partial; source ADP: CISA-ADP

- Weaknesses: CWE-287, CWE-307, CWE-538

## Exploit evidence

- exploit: https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/security/advisories/GHSA-w2p9-3666-vw9j (ADP: CISA-ADP)

## References

- https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/security/advisories/GHSA-w2p9-3666-vw9j (CNA: GitHub_M; x_refsource_CONFIRM)

- https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/commit/8bb0594e95eab6661b4372e94ac02f62a6c3cb28 (CNA: GitHub_M; x_refsource_MISC)

- https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/releases/tag/1.8.225 (CNA: GitHub_M; x_refsource_MISC)

- https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/security/advisories/GHSA-w2p9-3666-vw9j (ADP: CISA-ADP; exploit)

- https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/commit/8bb0594e95eab6661b4372e94ac02f62a6c3cb28 (security-advisories@github.com)

- https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/releases/tag/1.8.225 (security-advisories@github.com)

- https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/security/advisories/GHSA-w2p9-3666-vw9j (security-advisories@github.com)

- https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/security/advisories/GHSA-w2p9-3666-vw9j (GitHub Security Advisories; advisory)

## Provenance

- CNA: GitHub_M: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-62850; retrieved 2026-11-11; source updated 2026-11-11

- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-62850; retrieved 2026-11-06; source updated 2026-11-06

- GitHub Security Advisories: https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/security/advisories/GHSA-w2p9-3666-vw9j; retrieved 2026-11-08; source updated 2026-07-15

- FIRST EPSS: https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2026-62850; retrieved 2026-11-11; source updated Not reported

Revision: f264298c080c80436130176d69c8c3c19dd6ef71b3e61ba5e16b080f92aa2259

Canonical: https://y2.dev/cve/CVE-2026-62850

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