Phar object injection in PHPMailer
PHPMailer versions prior to 6.0.6 and 5.2.27 are vulnerable to an object injection attack by passing phar:// paths into addAttachment() and other functions that may receive unfiltered local paths, possibly leading to RCE. See this article for more info on this type of vulnerability. Mitigated by blocking the use of paths containing URL-protocol style prefixes such as phar://. Reported by Sehun Oh of cyberone.kr.
Impact
Object injection, possible remote code execution
Patches
Fixed in 6.0.6 and 5.2.27
Workarounds
Validate and sanitise user input before using.
References
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-19296
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Open a private issue in the PHPMailer project
Affected software
Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.
| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Composer package | phpmailer/phpmailer | >= 5.0.0, < 5.2.27, >= 6.0.0, < 6.0.6 | 5.2.27, 6.0.6 |
References
- https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/security/advisories/GHSA-7w4p-72j7-v7c2
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-19296
- https://github.com/FriendsOfPHP/security-advisories/blob/master/phpmailer/phpmailer/CVE-2018-19296.yaml
- https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/releases/tag/v5.2.27
- https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/releases/tag/v6.0.6
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/12/msg00020.html
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/3B5WDPGUFNPG4NAZ6G4BZX43BKLAVA5B
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/KPU66INRFY5BQ3ESVPRUXJR4DXQAFJVT
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/3B5WDPGUFNPG4NAZ6G4BZX43BKLAVA5B
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/KPU66INRFY5BQ3ESVPRUXJR4DXQAFJVT
- https://www.debian.org/security/2018/dsa-4351
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-1321, CWE-502, CWE-915- Platform
- Composer
- Package
phpmailer/phpmailer- Disclosed
- 05.03.2020
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 10:22
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-7w4p-72j7-v7c2 - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: phpmailer/phpmailer
All published vulnerabilities of this package (Composer package), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.
- Total entries
- 13
- First → latest
- 12.2016 02.2024
- Without a fix
- 0
- Exploited in attacks
- 0
Severity breakdown
- Critical 2
- High 7
- Medium 3
- Low 1
Disclosures per year
- 2017: 0
- 2018: 0
- 2019: 0
- 2020: 5
- 2021: 3
- 2022: 2
- 2023: 0
- 2024: 2
- 2025: 0
- 2026: 0
earlier: 1
-
Phar object injection in PHPMailer this entry
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