CVE-2026-26273
📋 TL;DR
Known social publishing platform versions 1.6.2 and earlier contain a critical authentication bypass vulnerability where password reset tokens are exposed in HTML source code. This allows unauthenticated attackers to reset any user's password without email access, leading to complete account takeover. All Known installations running vulnerable versions are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- Known social publishing platform
📦 What is this software?
Known by Withknown
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete compromise of all user accounts, including administrative accounts, leading to data theft, content manipulation, and potential lateral movement to connected systems.
Likely Case
Targeted account takeover of specific users, credential theft, unauthorized content publication, and privilege escalation.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if strong network controls prevent external access, but internal threats remain possible.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires only web browser access and knowledge of target email addresses. No special tools or skills needed.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 1.6.3
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/idno/known/security/advisories/GHSA-78wq-6gcv-w28r
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Backup your Known installation and database. 2. Download Known 1.6.3 from GitHub releases. 3. Replace all files with the new version. 4. Restart your web server. 5. Verify the fix by checking the version.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable password reset functionality
allTemporarily disable the password reset feature to prevent exploitation while planning upgrade.
# Modify Known configuration to disable password reset
# Edit config.ini or appropriate configuration file
# Set password_reset_enabled = false
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to block access to password reset endpoints
- Monitor logs for unusual password reset attempts and implement rate limiting
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Inspect the HTML source of the password reset page for hidden input fields containing reset tokens. If tokens are visible in page source, the system is vulnerable.Check Version:
Check Known version in admin panel or examine version.php fileVerify Fix Applied:
After upgrading to 1.6.3, verify that password reset tokens are no longer exposed in HTML source code and are properly handled server-side.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual volume of password reset requests
- Password reset attempts from unexpected IP addresses
- Successful password resets without corresponding email access
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests to password reset endpoints with unusual patterns
- Multiple password reset attempts for different users from same source
SIEM Query:
source="web_logs" AND (uri_path="/account/password/reset" OR uri_path LIKE "%/password/reset%") AND status=200 | stats count by src_ip, user_agent