CVE-2026-40565 MEDIUM

CVE-2026-40565: FreeScout has Stored XSS / CSS Injection via linkify() — Unescaped URL in Anchor href

Vendor Freescout-Help-Desk
Product freescout
Weakness CWE-79 · XSS
Published April 21, 2026
Last update April 21, 2026
View on NVD All CVEs

CVSS base score

6.1/10
Attack vector Network
Attack complexity Low
Privileges required None
User interaction Required
Confidentiality Low
Integrity Low

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

What the vulnerability does

01Description

FreeScout is a free self-hosted help desk and shared mailbox. Prior to version 1.8.213, FreeScout's linkify() function in app/Misc/Helper.php converts plain-text URLs in email bodies into HTML anchor tags without escaping double-quote characters (") in the URL. HTMLPurifier (called first via getCleanBody()) preserves literal " characters in text nodes. linkify() then wraps URLs including those " chars inside an unescaped href="..." attribute, breaking out of the href and injecting arbitrary HTML attributes. Version 1.8.213 fixes the issue.

Key dates

02Disclosure timeline

April 21, 2026 CVE published
April 21, 2026 Record updated