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PayloadApplication · Payloadcms

CVE-2026-25544

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-02-06
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.73.0 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Payload is a free and open source headless content management system. Prior to 3.73.0, when querying JSON or richText fields, user input was directly embedded into SQL without escaping, enabling blind SQL injection attacks. An unauthenticated attacker could extract sensitive data (emails, password reset tokens) and achieve full account takeover without password cracking. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.73.0.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Payload CMS versions before 3.73.0 contain a blind SQL injection vulnerability in JSON and richText field queries where user input is directly concatenated into SQL statements without proper escaping. An unauthenticated attacker can exploit this to extract sensitive data such as emails and password reset tokens, leading to full account takeover.

MitigationUpgrade Payload CMS to version 3.73.0 or later to patch the SQL injection vulnerability. If immediate upgrade is not possible, consider restricting network access to the CMS endpoints or implementing WAF rules as a temporary measure.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
PayloadApplication
Affected:< 3.73.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed Payload CMS version
    Check the package.json file in the Payload CMS project root, or run 'npm list @payloadcms/react' or 'npm list payload-cms' to see the installed version. Alternatively, check the payloadVersion field in the CMS admin interface if accessible.
    Affected if The installed version is below 3.73.0
  2. Locate JSON fields in Payload collections
    Review the collection configuration files (usually in src/collections/) and search for fields with 'type: json' to identify JSON-type fields that accept user input.
    Affected if JSON fields exist in any collection configuration and are exposed via API endpoints
  3. Locate richText fields in Payload collections
    Review collection configuration files and search for fields using richText editors (often configured with 'type: richText' or using @payloadcms/richtext-lexical or similar).
    Affected if RichText fields exist in any collection configuration and are exposed via API endpoints
  4. Verify API query endpoints are accessible
    Check if the Payload API endpoints (typically /api/collectionslug) accept query parameters. Test if unauthenticated or low-privilege users can make GET or POST requests to filter/query collection data.
    Affected if API endpoints allow querying JSON or richText fields with user-supplied input without proper sanitization

The environment is affected if Payload CMS version is below 3.73.0 and the application exposes JSON or richText fields through queryable API endpoints.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 3.73.0 or later
Fixed in 3.73.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Payload CMS to version 3.73.0 or later to patch the SQL injection vulnerability. If immediate upgrade is not possible, consider restricting network access to the CMS endpoints or implementing WAF rules as a temporary measure.

Recommended fix High confidence

3.73.0

  1. Backup your database and application code before upgrading
  2. Check your current Payload version (typically in package.json or via CLI)
  3. Update Payload to version 3.73.0 using your package manager: npm install [email protected] or yarn add [email protected]
  4. Run any necessary migrations (npm run migrate or as configured in your project)
  5. Verify the upgrade was successful and test that JSON/richText field queries work correctly
  6. Ensure your application is running the patched version 3.73.0

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Payload Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-25544 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data