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CVE-2026-72550 – Unauthenticated SQL Injection (RCE-capable via stacked queries) – Friendica through

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Summary

CVE-2026-72550 is a critical, unauthenticated SQL injection vulnerability in Friendica, the decentralized social networking platform, affecting all versions through the 2026.08-dev branch. The flaw allows a remote attacker with no authentication or user interaction to execute arbitrary SQL statements against the application’s database, resulting in a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (Critical).

Technical details

  • Root cause: The order parameter on the photo-view functionality is concatenated directly, unescaped, into a SHOW COLUMNS SQL query.
  • Trigger conditions: The query is executed via a bare PDO::query() call rather than a parameterized/prepared statement, allowing stacked SQL statements to be injected through the order parameter.
  • Attack vector: Network-based; requires no authentication (PR:N) and no user interaction (UI:N), with low attack complexity (AC:L).
  • Impact: Successful exploitation grants an attacker the ability to read, modify, or delete arbitrary data in the underlying database, amounting to full database compromise (High confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact).

Affected software

  • Friendica: all versions through the 2026.08-dev branch

Severity

  • CVSS v3.1 Base Score: 9.8 (Critical)
  • Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Mitigation and recommended actions

  • Immediate: Upgrade Friendica to a release that replaces the bare PDO::query() call used for the photo-view SHOW COLUMNS lookup with a parameterized query. Check the official Friendica repository and release notes for the patched version addressing this issue and apply it as soon as it is available.
  • If no patch is yet available: Restrict or disable public access to the photo-view endpoint at the web server or reverse proxy layer, deploy a WAF rule blocking anomalous input in the order parameter (e.g., SQL keywords, semicolons, comment sequences), and monitor database logs for unexpected SHOW COLUMNS or stacked-statement queries. Consider taking internet-facing Friendica instances offline until patched given the unauthenticated, network-exploitable nature of the flaw.

References

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