CVE-2026-41903
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 · uneditedFreeScout is a free help desk and shared inbox built with PHP's Laravel framework. Prior to version 1.8.217, a user holding the PERM_EDIT_USERS permission (intended for general user-profile editing) can read and modify the notification subscriptions of any other user, including admins, by sending a single POST request. This is a sibling of CVE-2025-48472's notification authorization bypass — the prior fix did not cover this code path. A non-admin attacker can silently disable an admin's email/browser/mobile notifications, suppressing security alerts and conversation-assignment notices. This issue has been patched in version 1.8.217.
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 confidenceFreeScout prior to 1.8.217 contains an authorization bypass where users with PERM_EDIT_USERS permission can read and modify notification subscriptions (email/browser/mobile) of any other user, including admins, via a single POST request. The prior fix for CVE-2025-48472 did not cover this specific code path, allowing non-admin attackers to silently disable admin notifications.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed FreeScout versionCheck the application version in the web interface (typically in Settings > About or footer) or inspect the version file in the installation directory if you have server accessAffected if Version is prior to 1.8.217 (e.g., 1.8.216, 1.8.200, etc.)
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Verify current user permissionsNavigate to Users section and check your user role/permissions, or query the database: SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = [your_user_id] and inspect permission fieldsAffected if Your account has PERM_EDIT_USERS permission granted
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Check notification subscription settings for other usersIf you have PERM_EDIT_USERS, attempt to access another user's notification settings via POST to the notification subscription endpoint (typically /users/{id}/notifications or similar), or inspect the database table storing notification preferences (often notification_settings or similar)Affected if You can view or modify another user's email/browser/mobile notification subscriptions without being an admin
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Audit notification configuration database recordsQuery the database for notification_settings table: SELECT * FROM notification_settings WHERE user_id != [your_user_id] to see if any user can modify other users' notification preferencesAffected if Records exist showing non-admin users have modified notification settings belonging to other users/admins
You are affected if running FreeScout version prior to 1.8.217 AND your account has PERM_EDIT_USERS permission, allowing unauthorized access to other users' notification subscription settings.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 · scopedUpgrade FreeScout to version 1.8.217 or later to apply the patch that properly enforces authorization checks on the notification subscription endpoint.
1.8.217
- Backup the FreeScout database and application files before proceeding
- Download FreeScout version 1.8.217 from the official repository (https://github.com/freescout-helpdesk/freescout)
- Replace the existing FreeScout installation files with the new version 1.8.217
- Run any pending database migrations if required by the update
- Clear application cache if needed (php artisan cache:clear)
- Verify the application is functioning correctly after the upgrade
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,096.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-41903 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-41903 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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