Vulnerability · Published Feb 25, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M

CVE-2026-27637FreeScout's Predictable Authentication Token Enables Account Takeover

Critical 9.8

In plain English

A critical-severity weak randomness 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 0.8% (higher than 55% of all known vulnerabilities). Ready-made attack tooling exists: public proof-of-concept code.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)9.8Critical

Exploit odds (30 days)0.8%top 44.5% of all CVEs

Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: poc

Attack tooling1Public PoC

Official description

FreeScout is a free help desk and shared inbox built with PHP's Laravel framework. Prior to version 1.8.206, FreeScout's `TokenAuth` middleware uses a predictable authentication token computed as `MD5(user_id + created_at + APP_KEY)`. This token is static (never expires/rotates), and if an attacker obtains the `APP_KEY` — a well-documented and common exposure vector in Laravel applications — they can compute a valid token for any user, including the administrator, achieving full account takeover without any password. This vulnerability can be exploited on its own or in combination with CVE-2026-27636. Version 1.8.206 fixes both vulnerabilities.

Affected products (as reported)

Vendor	Product	Versions
freescout-help-desk	freescout	< 1.8.206

Weakness: CWE-330 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References

https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/security/advisories/GHSA-6gcm-v8xf-j9v9 x_refsource_CONFIRM
https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/security/advisories/GHSA-mw88-x7j3-74vc x_refsource_MISC
https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/commit/004a8231f6e413af1d4680930b0e2342fd4283f9 x_refsource_MISC