Privilege Escalation via Admin API Endpoint Bypass

phpMyFAQ before 4.1.5 contains a privilege escalation vulnerability in the user/add API endpoint that allows non-SuperAdmin administrators to create SuperAdmin accounts. A delegated administrator with USER_ADD/EDIT/DELETE permissions can call POST /admin/api/user/add with isSuperAdmin: true and attacker-chosen credentials to create a SuperAdmin account, then authenticate as that account to achieve full instance takeover.

Casky was already ahead

This CVE exploits attack patterns that Casky's 224matched skills already investigate — long before this vulnerability was disclosed. Claude's reasoning model maps these techniques to MITRE ATT&CK, so practitioners who ran these skills have already seen the threat behaviour in their findings.

Analysis

phpMyFAQ versions before 4.1.5 suffer from a critical privilege escalation flaw in the user management API endpoint. A delegated administrator with standard USER_ADD/EDIT/DELETE permissions can exploit improper access controls to create SuperAdmin accounts with arbitrary credentials, completely circumventing role-based access control mechanisms. This vulnerability affects all phpMyFAQ deployments where multiple administrators exist, particularly those relying on role separation for security boundaries. The attack requires no external resources or user interaction—a compromised or malicious delegated admin can instantly elevate themselves to full instance control, leading to complete data breach, system manipulation, and potential lateral movement.

Casky's 224 mapped skills detect this attack pattern by analyzing POST requests to admin API endpoints for privilege escalation indicators under MITRE ATT&CK TA0004 (Privilege Escalation). Extended Claude reasoning identifies anomalies such as non-SuperAdmin accounts attempting to set isSuperAdmin flags, authorization mismatches between caller permissions and requested actions, and creation of high-privilege accounts outside normal workflows. Practitioners using Casky would observe findings flagging API calls with role elevation payloads, improper input validation on privilege fields, and access control decisions that don't reflect the caller's actual permissions—enabling rapid detection before SuperAdmin accounts become persistent backdoors.

Live Threat IntelligenceComing soon

Casky Risk Score

—

EPSS Probability

—

Shodan Exposure

—

GreyNoise Signal

—

Composite risk scoring from EPSS, CISA KEV, Shodan, and GreyNoise — 21 security APIs correlated into a single Casky Risk Score. Coming in Casky Pro. Join early access →

224 Casky skills cover this attack pattern

These skills use Claude AI's reasoning model to surface findings in the same attack categories as CVE-2026-57996.

abusing-dpapi-for-credential-access

red teaming · high

Run

abusing-shadow-credentials-for-privesc

red teaming · high

Run

Access with Stolen Session Cookie

penetration testing · medium

Run

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

TA0004

Investigate the attack patterns behind CVE-2026-57996

Casky has 224 skills that investigate the attack patterns behind CVE-2026-57996. Run one and get CVSS-scored findings in 3 minutes.

Run the skill that detects this →

X Instagram LinkedIn