Medium 6.1Published Apr 21, 2026

CVE-2026-40565FreeScout has Stored XSS / CSS Injection via linkify() — Unescaped URL in Anchor href

Updated under an hour ago (Oct 26, 2026, 4:50 AM ET)

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It affects freescout-help-desk freescout and 1 other product. Add what you run to find out whether that includes you.

No exploitation reported and no EPSS estimate yet.

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Exploited in the last 30 days

FreeScout is a free self-hosted help desk and shared mailbox. Prior to version 1.8.213, FreeScout's linkify() function in app/Misc/Helper.php converts plain-text URLs in email bodies into HTML anchor tags without escaping double-quote characters (") in the URL. HTMLPurifier (called first via getCleanBody()) preserves literal " characters in text nodes. linkify() then wraps URLs including those " chars inside an unescaped href="..." attribute, breaking out of the href and injecting arbitrary HTML attributes. Version 1.8.213 fixes the issue.

CVSS: 6.1 MEDIUM (v3.1, CNA)CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Weakness (CWE): CWE-79
Known exploited: Not in CISA's KEV catalog
EPSS (exploitation in the next 30 days): Not loaded for this CVE
Assigned by: GitHub_M
NVD analysis: Analyzed
Record last updated: Apr 21, 2026
First seen by InfoSec Signals: Oct 9, 2026

Affected products

Affected products

freescout-help-desk freescout freescout_help_desk:freescout (from the name)	before 1.8.213	CNA record
freescout freescout freescout:freescout	before 1.8.213	NVD

References

https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/security/advisories/GHSA-49pm-xwqj-vwjpx-refsource-confirm, vendor-advisory
https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/commit/265379b3ae343f06846adc0aa8510643d1eac2dfx-refsource-misc, patch
https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout/releases/tag/1.8.213x-refsource-misc, release-notes

The CVE record on cve.org NVD's entry

The CVE record is authoritative. Products marked “from the name” were identified from the CNA's free-text names, not a CPE, and are matched less certainly. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.