cakephp/cakephp security advisory

CVE-2026-79752: CakePHP: Multiple methods in FunctionsBuilder vulnerable to SQL injection

CVE-2026-79752 is a critical-severity SQL injection vulnerability in the PHP package cakephp/cakephp (CVSS 9.2), published 17 September 2026. It is fixed in 4.5.12, 4.6.5, 5.1.9, 5.2.14 and 5.3.7, one per release line; earlier versions on each line are affected. It can be exploited without an account.

critical 9.2 published 2026-09-17 · updated 2026-09-30

Affected versions: < 4.5.12
>= 4.6.0, < 4.6.5
>= 5.0.0, < 5.1.9
>= 5.2.0, < 5.2.14
>= 5.3.0, < 5.3.7
Fixed in: 4.5.12, 4.6.5, 5.1.9, 5.2.14, 5.3.7
Newest release: 5.4.4
Severity: Critical · CVSS 9.2
Type: SQL injection
CWE-89
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-2026-79752

Access: No account. Anyone who can send a request to an app that uses the affected code.
Conditions: It only works under specific conditions the attacker does not fully control (CVSS rates the attack as high complexity).

CVSS vector (scored by GitHub): CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA: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-2026-79752 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 the fixed version for your release line (4.5.12, 4.6.5, 5.1.9, 5.2.14 and 5.3.7).
If Composer will not go that high, your composer.json constraint is holding it back. Widen it (for example "cakephp/cakephp": "^5.3.7" 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-2026-79752.
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 SQL injection issues while the upgrade waits. None of it replaces the fix.

Make sure user input never reaches the affected query builder or ORM method unvalidated; allow-list column and sort names.
Give the app's database user only the permissions it needs.
If your app does not use the affected feature, note that in your audit, but still plan the upgrade.

The CVE-2026-79752 advisory

CakePHP is a rapid development framework for PHP. Prior to 4.5.12, 4.6.5, 5.1.9, 5.2.14, and 5.3.7, FunctionsBuilder::cast, FunctionsBuilder::extract, FunctionsBuilder::datePart, and FunctionsBuilder::dateAdd in src/Database/FunctionsBuilder.php accept user-controlled dataType, part, or unit values and incorporate them into generated SQL as unescaped structural fragments. An application that passes untrusted input to these parameters can permit SQL injection with confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact according to the database connection's privileges. This issue is fixed in versions 4.5.12, 4.6.5, 5.1.9, 5.2.14, and 5.3.7.

Description from the CVE record, published by GitHub (the CVE Numbering Authority), via the NVD entry for CVE-2026-79752. Advisory title: “CakePHP: Multiple methods in FunctionsBuilder vulnerable to SQL injection”.

References

GitHub advisory GHSA-vjqc-q4mp-2rvf github.com
Fix commit 3349584 github.com
Fix commit 3f4d13e github.com
Fix commit 79e1d6b github.com
Fix commit 8699d6f github.com
Fix commit ab60871 github.com
Pull request #19520 github.com
Pull request #19528 github.com

Other cakephp/cakephp advisories

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
medium CVE-2026-23643: CakePHP PaginatorHelper::limitControl() vulnerable to reflected cross-site-scripting 2026-01-16
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.