cakephp/cakephp security advisory

CVE-2026-23643: CakePHP PaginatorHelper::limitControl() vulnerable to reflected cross-site-scripting

CVE-2026-23643 is a medium-severity XSS vulnerability in the PHP package cakephp/cakephp (CVSS 5.4), published 16 January 2026. It is fixed in 5.2.12; earlier versions are affected. It can be exploited without an account.

medium 5.4 published 2026-01-16 · updated 2026-06-17

Affected versions: =5.3.0
>=5.2.10,<5.2.12
Fixed in: 5.2.12
Newest release: 5.4.4
Severity: Medium · CVSS 5.4
Type: Cross-site scripting (XSS)
CWE-79
Exploited in the wild: Not on the CISA KEV list
checked 2026-11-04

Is your cakephp/cakephp version affected?

Run composer show cakephp/cakephp in your project, then enter the version. We check it against this and every other known cakephp/cakephp advisory.

Who can exploit CVE-2026-23643

Access: No account. Anyone who can send a request to an app that uses the affected code.
Interaction: A user also has to do something, such as open a link or a page the attacker prepared.

CVSS vector (scored by GitHub): CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

Your app is only exposed if it uses the affected part of cakephp/cakephp. The advisory below says which part that is. If you are not sure, upgrade anyway: it costs less than finding out.

How to fix CVE-2026-23643 in cakephp/cakephp

Find the installed version: composer show cakephp/cakephp. If you never required it yourself, composer why cakephp/cakephp shows which package pulls it in.
Update it: composer update cakephp/cakephp --with-all-dependencies. You need 5.2.12 or newer.
If Composer will not go that high, your composer.json constraint is holding it back. Widen it (for example "cakephp/cakephp": "^5.2.12" if you can take that version), or upgrade the package that requires it.
Run composer audit. It reads the same advisory data and should no longer list CVE-2026-23643.
Commit composer.lock and deploy it. On the server, run composer install --no-dev from the lock file, not composer update.

If you cannot upgrade yet

General hardening for XSS issues while the upgrade waits. None of it replaces the fix.

Escape output in your own templates and add a Content-Security-Policy that blocks inline scripts.
Limit who can save the content the advisory names (for example rich text, SVG or form fields).
If your app does not use the affected feature, note that in your audit, but still plan the upgrade.

The CVE-2026-23643 advisory

CakePHP is a rapid development framework for PHP. The PaginatorHelper::limitControl() method has a cross-site-scripting vulnerability via query string parameter manipulation. This issue has been fixed in 5.2.12 and 5.3.1.

Description from the CVE record, published by GitHub (the CVE Numbering Authority), via the NVD entry for CVE-2026-23643. Advisory title: “CakePHP PaginatorHelper::limitControl() vulnerable to reflected cross-site-scripting”.

References

GitHub advisory GHSA-qh8m-9qxx-53m5 github.com
Fix commit c842e7f github.com
Release 5.2.12 github.com
Release 5.3.1 github.com
bakery.cakephp.org bakery.cakephp.org
github.com github.com

Other cakephp/cakephp advisories

critical CVE-2026-79752: CakePHP: Multiple methods in FunctionsBuilder vulnerable to SQL injection 2026-09-17
critical CVE-2026-77635: CakePHP: FunctionsBuilder::jsonValue() vulerable to SQL injection with PostgresDriver 2026-09-08
high CVE-2026-77634: CakePHP: SmtpTransport vulnerable to CRLF header injection 2026-09-08
medium CVE-2026-48820: CakePHP: View::element() is missing a path containment check 2026-06-26
critical CVE-2023-22727: CakePHP Database\\Query::offset() and limit() methods are vulnerable to SQL injection 2023-01-20
high CVE-2020-35239: CakePHP allows method override parameters to bypass CSRF checks 2022-05-24

Need help patching or upgrading? Laskyr does PHP and Laravel security fixes and upgrades. Tell us what you run and we reply with a plan and a price.

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Where this data comes from

Affected and fixed versions: the Packagist security advisories API (GitHub Advisory Database and FriendsOfPHP), the same data composer audit uses. Synced 2026-11-03.
Description, score, weakness and references: NIST National Vulnerability Database (NVD), checked 2026-11-04. This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
Exploited-in-the-wild status: the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, checked 2026-11-04.
Compiled by Daniel Lasek at Laskyr from the sources above. The summary, “who can exploit it”, “how to fix it” and hardening sections are our plain-English reading of the record and are generated from it. The quoted description is the record's own text. Spot an error? Tell us.