CVE-2026-54256: Access Control Flaw (CVSS 5.4)

Description

Winter CMS is a content management system built on the Laravel PHP framework. In versions up to and including 1.2.12, the backend FileUpload form widget trusted an attacker-controlled file_id POST parameter when resolving the attachment it operates on, allowing an authenticated backend user to read and modify attachment records belonging to other users or records. The widget's getFileRecord() lookup resolved the posted id against the global system_files table without verifying that the file belonged to the widget's own relation, parent record, or deferred-binding session. Because all attachments share a single File model and table and attachment ids are sequential integers that are easily enumerated, a user reaching any form with a fileupload field, including the built-in My Account avatar field that requires no specific permission, could target arbitrary attachments to modify their title and description via onSaveAttachmentConfig and change their sort order via onSortAttachments, which passed posted ids straight to an unscoped update. CSRF tokens remain enforced, so exploitation requires a valid authenticated backend session with any level of access. This issue is fixed in version 1.2.13.

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CVSS v3.1 Score

5.4

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

EPSS — Exploit Prediction

0.0014

Probability of exploitation

0.04%

Percentile rank

EPSS estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A higher score means more likely to be exploited.

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-284 CWE-284

CWE-639 CWE-639

References

Other References

https://github.com/wintercms/winter/commit/9cb0ae5f9d837db141ab111c6a7de8eed9603d25 https://github.com/wintercms/winter/security/advisories/GHSA-3277-h8g9-qj5f

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-54256? +

Winter CMS is a content management system built on the Laravel PHP framework. In versions up to and including 1.2.12, the backend FileUpload form widget trusted an attacker-controlled file_id POST parameter when resolving the attachment it operates on, allowing an authenticated backend user to read and modify attachment records belonging to other users or records. The widget's getFileRecord() lookup resolved the posted id against the global system_files table without verifying that the file belonged to the widget's own relation, parent record, or deferred-binding session. Because all attachments share a single File model and table and attachment ids are sequential integers that are easily enumerated, a user reaching any form with a fileupload field, including the built-in My Account avatar field that requires no specific permission, could target arbitrary attachments to modify their title and description via onSaveAttachmentConfig and change their sort order via onSortAttachments, which passed posted ids straight to an unscoped update. CSRF tokens remain enforced, so exploitation requires a valid authenticated backend session with any level of access. This issue is fixed in version 1.2.13. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.4 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2026-54256? +

CVE-2026-54256 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.4 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance. The EPSS score is 0.0014, placing it in the 0th percentile for exploitation probability.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2026-54256? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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