Vulnerability · Published Jul 20, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M
CVE-2026-53594FreeScout has Arbitrary File Read in App Logs Viewer via Forged Encrypted Path
Medium 4.9
In plain English
A medium-severity path traversal in freescout from freescout-help-desk. Proof-of-concept exploit code is public. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.4% (higher than 37% of all known vulnerabilities).
Official description
FreeScout is a free help desk and shared inbox built with PHP's Laravel framework. FreeScout's `Manage -> Logs -> App Logs` feature uses the bundled `rap2hpoutre/laravel-log-viewer` override to decrypt a user-supplied file identifier and then pass the resolved path to Laravel's download response. Prior to version 1.8.224, the path resolution logic accepts any existing absolute path before applying the intended `storage/logs` restriction. As a result, an attacker who can access the App Logs route and forge a valid Laravel-encrypted `dl` parameter can download arbitrary server-local files readable by the PHP process, not just log files. Version 1.8.224 contains a fix.
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| freescout-help-desk | freescout | < 1.8.224 |
Weakness: CWE-22 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N