CVE-2026-85742: FreeScout is a self-hosted help desk and shared mailbox.

FreeScout is a self-hosted help desk and shared mailbox.

FreeScout is a self-hosted help desk and shared mailbox. Prior to 1.8.230, a pre-authenticated attacker can place HTML in a failed-login email value that is copied through monitored user activity into a queued SendAlert job. If alert delivery fails, the serialized payload is stored in failed_jobs and the administrator job-details endpoint renders it after a blacklist sanitizer that leaves executable event-handler attributes. When an administrator opens /system/ajax-html/job_details/{id} as a top-level page, the raw fragment lacks the normal layout policy and attacker-controlled JavaScript can perform same-origin administrator actions. Logs Monitoring for users, a failed alert email job, queue failure storage, and top-level administrator interaction are all required; the normal modal path is not affected in the tested configuration. This issue is fixed in version 1.8.230.

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by GitHub

What it means for a small business

If your business uses freescout, install the vendor's update. If you're not sure whether you use it, ask whoever manages your computers.

Check your own setup

Website check: reads what your site runs from the outside (WordPress version, plugins it can see, old server software) and matches it against this database.
Server check: what your web server says about itself, and whether that version has known flaws.

Sources

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

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