CVE-2016-9493 | PHP forms generated using the PHP FormMail Generator are vulnerable to stored cross-site scripting

The code generated by PHP FormMail Generator prior to 17 December 2016 is vulnerable to stored cross-site scripting. In the generated form.lib.php file, upload file types are checked against a hard-coded list of dangerous extensions. This list does not include all variations of PHP files, which may lead to execution of the contained PHP code if the attacker can guess the uploaded filename. The form by default appends a short random string to the end of the filename.

Published: 2018-07-13 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2016-9493 is rated Low Risk (39/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.21%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2016-9493

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-03-17 0.10% 0.21% +0.11%
2 2025-02-13 0.19% 0.10% -0.09%
3 2024-12-17 0.19%

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-9493

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.1 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
2.8 2.7 [email protected]
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-9493

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-9493

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
jqueryform php_formmail_generator < 2016-12-17 cpe:2.3:a:jqueryform:php_formmail_generator:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-9493

URL Tags
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/96718 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/608591 Third Party Advisory US Government Resource
cvelogic Threat Intelligence