Description
osTicket v1.18.3 is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) via the email From-header display name. The value is extracted without sanitization in include/class.mailparse.php and stored raw in the poster field of ost_thread_entry. When an unauthenticated attacker sends a reply email to an existing ticket from an unregistered address with an XSS payload in the From display name.
Published: 2026-08-03
Score: 6.1 Medium
EPSS: < 1% Very Low
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

Impact

This flaw in osTicket 1.18.3 lets an unauthenticated sender embed arbitrary JavaScript in the email "From" display name. The value is extracted without sanitization, stored in the ‘poster’ field, and rendered unescaped when the ticket is viewed. An attacker can thus run scripts in the browsers of any user who opens the ticket, allowing cookie theft, session hijacking, defacement or data exfiltration. The weakness is a classic stored XSS (CWE‑79).

Affected Systems

The vulnerability affects the osTicket product, specifically version 1.18.3 and any deployments that rely on the included class.mailparse.php to parse incoming emails. Because the flaw is in the core email handling code, all tickets that receive external replies are potentially vulnerable. No vendor or product identifiers are listed in the CNA data; the issue pertains to the affected osTicket release.

Risk and Exploitability

An attacker only needs to send an email with a crafted "From" display name to an existing ticket from an unregistered address – no account or authentication is required. The exploit path is trivial. The CVSS score of 6.1 classifies the vulnerability as moderate severity, and the EPSS score is not available. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog. Due to the straightforward exploitation route and lack of built‑in defenses, unpatched installations remain at high risk for XSS attacks that could compromise user session data or inject malicious scripts.

Generated by OpenCVE AI on August 4, 2026 at 21:57 UTC.

Remediation

No vendor fix or workaround currently provided.

OpenCVE Recommended Actions

  • Deploy the latest osTicket release or apply the patch that sanitizes the From display name before storing it
  • Restrict inbound email addresses to verified users or enforce strict address validation so that only known accounts can submit tickets
  • If a rapid update is not possible, implement a custom sanitization routine on the ‘poster’ field or strip script tags before rendering ticket content
  • Configure web‑application security headers (Content‑Security‑Policy, X‑Content‑Type‑Options, etc.) to mitigate the impact of any XSS attempts

Generated by OpenCVE AI on August 4, 2026 at 21:57 UTC.

Tracking

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Advisories

No advisories yet.

History

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 22:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Title Stored XSS via Email From Header in osTicket

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 20:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-79
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 6.1, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N'}

ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Mon, 03 Aug 2026 19:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Osticket
Osticket osticket
Vendors & Products Osticket
Osticket osticket

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 18:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description osTicket v1.18.3 is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) via the email From-header display name. The value is extracted without sanitization in include/class.mailparse.php and stored raw in the poster field of ost_thread_entry. When an unauthenticated attacker sends a reply email to an existing ticket from an unregistered address with an XSS payload in the From display name.
References

Subscriptions

Osticket Osticket
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: mitre

Published:

Updated: 2026-08-03T19:31:07.711Z

Reserved: 2026-04-06T00:00:00.000Z

Link: CVE-2026-38444

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-08-03T19:31:03.929Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-08-03T19:16:46.653

Modified: 2026-08-03T20:17:22.670

Link: CVE-2026-38444

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-08-04T22:00:07Z

Weaknesses
  • CWE-79

    Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')